


UNITED' STATES OF AMERICA. 



AT*/. 






\ 



RECONSTRUCTION OF BIBLICAL THEORIES; 



BIBLICAL SCIENCE 



nrmoYED IN its history, chronology, and interpretation, 



BELIEVED FROM TRADITIONARY ERRORS AND 
UNWARRANTABLE HYPOTHESES. 



LEICESTER AMBROSE SAWYER, 

TRANSLATOR OF THE SCRIPTURES, ETC. 




BOSTON: 
WALKER, WISE, AND COMPANY, 

245 Washington Street. 

18G2. 



/fr~ 



:55 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by 

LEICESTER AMBROSE SAWYER, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



2_ 3 11 



( 



STEREOTYPED AT THE 
IOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. 






•PREFACE. 



The Bible, understood any way, furnishes many props and supports 
to piety and virtue, but performs its greatest services only when it is 
understood correctly. Incorrect systems of biblical interpretation, 
however sanctioned by time and ecclesiastical authorities, must give 
way to truth and reality ; and though something will be lost by the 
change, far more will be gained. We must not be afraid to improve 
our theologies, and abandon any notion that is wrong for the truth 
whose place it usurps. Only truth is of God. 

The present work does not embrace particularly the whole field of 
biblical science. It commences with general principles and facts, and 
reconstructs the theories of the earlier parts of the Bible, till the times 
of Samuel and David, embracing the Pentateuch, Joshua, and Judges. 
It contains retranslations of the earlier documents, and occasional ex- 
tracts from later ones. Tke author has reconstructed the theories of the 
New Testament, which he proposes also to publish as soon as may be, 
and by which he hopes to give new impulses and utilities to the study 
of that portion of the sacred Scriptures ; but he deems the points em- 
braced in the discussions of the present volume quite sufficient for a first 
lesson, and commends them to the earnest consideration of all Chris- 
tians. The Science of Christianity is the common property of Chris- 
tendom, and its highest possible improvement the common interest of 
all human races. 

The reconstruction of theories relating to the poets accompanies 
the translation of them ; and those relating to Daniel and the later 
historical books, will accompany them, leaving New Testament re- 
construction for an independent volume to follow this. 

THE AUTHOR. 
Boston, July 1, 1862. 

(3) 



CONTENTS. 



Chap. Page. 
I. Theory of the Languages and Ages of the Sacred 
Books, and Periodic Divisions of Greek and He- 
brew Literature, 5 

II. Greek and Hebrew Hermeneutics, or Book Inter- 
pretation, its Relation to the Past, 13 

III. The Greek and 'Hebrew Languages, and their Rela- 

tions to each other ; their earliest Works, 17 

IV. The name Jehovah ; its History and ancient Pronun- 

ciation, 20 

V. Early Hebrew Traditions, . . . . 26 

VI. Hebrew Account of the Creation of the World by 
Alohim in Six Days, and the Appointment of the 

Sabbath, 29 

VII. Hebrew Tradition 2 ; Creation of the World, and the 

Early History of the Human Race, 45 

VIII. History of Adam and Eve, continued ; Cain and Abel ; 
the Cainites ; Origin of Civilization and Religious 

Worship, 70 

IX. The Adamic Decade, 82 

X. The Noachic Emigration, 88 

XI. Distribution of the Noachites and their Settlements ; 

Genealogy of the Western Nations, 109 

XII. The Shemite Decade, 113 

XIII. The Babel of Universal Despotism first attempted 

by the Hamites in Babylonia, 118 

XIV. Abrahamic Traditions, their Allegorical Character, 122 
XV. Traditions of Isaac, 140 

XVI. Traditions of Jacob and Esau, 142 

XVII. Mosaic Traditions, 149 

XVIII. Traditions of Joshua and the Judges, 185 

XIX. History of Biblical Interpretation, and its Princi- 
ples, 190 

(4) 

• 



BIBLICAL THEORIES. 



CHAPTER I. 



Theory of the Languages and Ages of the Sacred Boohs, 
and Periodic Divisions of Greek and Hebrew Literature. 

1. The Greek language originated in four dialects — the 
JEolic in Bceotia and the Boeotian colonies of Asia Minor, 
having among its writers Alcseus and Sappho ; the Doric in 
the Peloponnesus and the Dorian colonies of Asia Minor, 
having among its writers Bion, Callimachus, and Pindar J 
the Ionic in Ionia, Asia Minor, having among its writers 
Homer, Hesiod, and Herodotus ; and the Attic, in Attica, 
the capital of which was Athens, having among its writers 
Thucydides, the tragic poets, and Plato. 

2. After the time of Alexander, 336 B. C, the Attic dia- 
lect superseded the others, and was called Hellenic or Greek. 
All these dialects constituted one language, with variations ; 
the variations, however, were, in many cases, considerable. 
The Attic, which finally prevailed, was the most simple, con- 
cise, and beautiful of the whole, and showed a greater and 
more successful attention to language culture by the Atheni- 
ans than was attained by the other Greek communities. 

3. Greek literature may be distributed into three periods 
— the Earlier, Middle, and Later. 

1 * .(5) ' 



6 BIBLICAL THEOBIES. CHAP. I. 

(1.) The Earlier is from the introduction of letters, pre- 
vious to the time of Homer, about 1095 B. C, to the last 
year of the administration of Pisistratus, 536 B. C, = 559 
years. The Homeric poems were reduced to writing near 
the close of this period, under the supervision of Pisistratus. 
The times of Homer are 884-834. Hesiod also belongs to 
this period, who sung 750-700. 

(2.) The Middle period is from 536 to 336, the accession 
of Alexander the Great to the throne of Macedonia. To this 
period belong the early historians, the tragic poets, and the 
early philosophers. 

(3.) The Final period is from 536 B. C. to A. D. 500. To 
this period belong the works of Aristotle, Strabo, the Septua- 
gint, Josephus, the New Testament, and the Greek Christian 
Fathers. 

4. The Greek language has not passed entirely away, like 
the Hebrew, but still holds its place as a living, but second- 
rate language in Greece and among the Greek Christians of 
the East, occupying a portion of its ancient seats. Its 
modern representative, however, differs very much from the 
ancient Greek, and may be considered essentially a different 
language, related to the ancient as the Italian is to the 
Latin. 

5. The Hebrew language originated in Western Asia, and 
prevailed among the Hebrews and their neighbors on every 
side. It does not appear to have been a foreign importation*, 
but a product of that portion of the world, as the Greek 
language was a product of Greece, and the Latin of Italy. 
Abraham found it in Palestine, and probably adopted it ; if 
it was lost in any degree by the descendants of Jacob during 
their sojourn in Egypt, they adopted such modifications of it 
as they found in use by their neighbors on their return under 
Moses and Joshua. 

6. The introduction of letters into Greece was probably 
from Tyre or Sidon, in the time of Samuel, 1095. At this 



CHAP. I. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 7 

time the Tynans and Sidonians were the most enterpris- 
ing merchants in the world, and carried on a considerable 
commerce. Their superiority to the Hebrews in the arts 
is indicated in the history of the building of the Temple by 
Solomon, who was assisted in that great work by skilful 
artisans from Tyre. It is to be presumed, therefore, that the 
Tyrians or Sidonians were the inventors of letters, and gave 
them to the other Aramaean nations and to the Greeks at the 
same time. Such was the vast importance of the inven- 
tion that a knowledge of it must have been immediately 
diffused as far as the intercourse and acquaintance of the 
inventors extended, and especially to all nations and tribes 
that were in friendly relations with them. The Tyrians and 
Sidonians are called by the common name of Phoenicians. 
Carthage was settled at an early period by Phoenician colo- 
nists, and the Punic language of that country is a slip from 
the Aramaean stock, transplanted by the Phoenicians. 

7. It is generally supposed that the Hebrews brought up 
letters from Egypt. But the Egyptian writing, though of 
several different kinds, and of an ancient date, was hiero- 
glyphic and pictorial, entirely unlike the Aramaean, and poorly 
adapted to literary purposes. In giving us their system of 
letters, the Aramaeans have conferred incalculable benefits on 
the entire western world, and contributed not a little to the 
superior development of the western mind that has since 
been attained. It never could have been attained without 
this instrument. 

8. The Hebrew language is not called Hebrew in the 
Hebrew Scriptures, and was not distinctively such ; it was 
Aramaean, and belonged, in common, to the Aramaean nations 
of Western Asia. It was for the time an institution of the 
land, and whoever became a resident in it was compelled to 
adopt it. 

9. It appears quite evident that letters were first intro- 
duced among the Hebrews in the times of David and Samuel. 



8 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. I. 

They are mentioned in the history of the exodus, but no cir- 
cumstances connected with that history indicate their exist- 
ence at that time, and the whole complexion of the history 
indicates that the events occurred previous to the use of let- 
ters, when the only expedient at hand, to preserve a knowledge 
of the past, was to clothe it with enigmas and allegories, and 
thus make it easily memorable as well as attractive. 

10. No indications of letters appear in the book of Judges, 
but, on the contrary, every thing appears like the darkness 
and simplicity of a semi-barbarous age, without these lights 
of civilization. No recorder is mentioned under Saul, but 
David has both a ^2003, mazkir, recorder, and a "L&iD, sopher, 
scribe, and from this time we first have a connected and 
consistent train of events. Here commences a great epoch in 
Hebrew history. Up to this time it is principally allegori- 
cal, much of it distorted and extravagant, much of it dark 
and enigmatic. Now daylight is poured in on its darkness ; 
enigmas and allegories continue to occur, but they are the 
exception, not the general rule ; previously, allegories are the 
rule, and plain statements of events, the exception. 

1 1 . The ascription of the Pentateuch to Moses is a Jewish 
fiction, analogous to that of attributing to him the unwritten 
traditions recorded in the Talmud ; and there is as good reason 
to believe that he is the author of the latter as of the former. 
There is no reason to believe that the Hebrews brought up 
the language of the Pentateuch from Egypt ; it was not the 
language of the Egyptians, but of the Canaanites, whose lands 
they seized. Instances have since occurred, in which a con- 
quering nation has adopted the superior language of the van- 
quished, after coming to live among them. The Hebrews 
probably did the same. They left Egypt in 1491, and 
remained in Arabia 40 years, till 1451. They entered 
Canaan and commenced its conquest the same year. From 
this time to the establishment of the monarchy under Saul, 
1095, according to the common computation, is 356 years 



CHAP. I. BIBLICAL THEOKIES. 9 

during which there is not a reliable tr^p of a letter. Joshua 
is indeed said (Josh. 24 : 26, 27) to have written his cove- 
nant with the nation, in favor of Jeva (Jehovah) worship, in 
the book of the law of Jehovah ; but then it is added, that he 
took a great stone to be a witness to the people on the sub- 
ject, because it had heard all the words of Jehovah which he 
spoke to us. Writings are sometimes witnessed to add to 
their reliability ; but here the supposed writing is not referred 
to as a witness, but only the stone ; neither is the stone 
placed in any connection with the writing. Considered, 
therefore, in connection with this and other indications, it 
appears that the account of Joshua's writing is fictitious, and 
furnishes no evidence of the existence of letters in his time. 
The crossing of the Jordan (Josh. 4 : 20-24) was commemo- 
rated by a stone heap. The altar of witness erected by the 
sons of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (Josh. 4 : 9-29) was a com- 
memorative monument, that could not have been necessary 
if letters had existed in those times. At the institution of 
monarchy under Saul, the Hebrews had the language of the 
country ; but this does not prove that they left Egypt with it 
356 years before. In the unsettled condition of those times 
a language would almost pass away by imperceptible and' 
unintentional changes in that length of time ; but if the 
Hebrews found in Canaan a language decidedly superior to 
that which they brought from Egypt, they may have taken 
special pains to learn it, and the more as it had been^rigi- 
nally the language of Abraham. 

12. The sojourn in Egypt is of indefinite duration; accord- 
ing to the common estimate, it continued from 1706 B. C. to 
1491, = 215 years — a period which must have wrought great 
changes, in the language of Jacob's family and descendants, 
and coffliderable changes in the language of Palestine. It 
is impossible that the two should have been kept along to- 
gether during that interval. But in the time of David and 
thenceforward they were essentially together ; I infer, there- 



10 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. I. 

fore, that, on their ^Piirn to Canaan, the Hebrews adopted 
purposely the language of Canaan; and that, when letters 
were invented by the Tyrians, then the most enterprising 
and commercial people of all the orientals, the Hebrews, 
being in friendly relations with them, immediately adopted 
this improvement, and set themselves about committing 
their oral traditions, those of history, allegory, and poetry, 
to writing. This would, of course, be done imperfectly at 
first, and subsequently improved, and centuries be required 
for the perfection of the new medium to such a degree 
as to have any chance of being handed down to all coming 
ages. 

13. The first introduction of letters among the Hebrews, 
in the times of Samuel and David, is indicated by the great 
change that thence appears in the tone and complexion of 
history, and by the great improvements attained in the con- 
dition of the nation. History becomes sober, literal, exact, 
and full; before it was extravagant, distorted, allegorical, 
enigmatical, and fragmentary. Samuel is a reasonable char- 
acter: Samson is a kind of Hercules, but a monster of 
strength and indiscretion, himself a greater riddle than any 
that he solved or proposed ; the Grecian Hercules is far his 
superior. 

14. A language, like a tree, has a beginning in roots, from 
which it springs and shoots out into branches ; and a dead 
language is a tree embalmed and preserved from decay for 
the inspection of the curious in after ages. Such are the 
Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages ; they are dead and 
taken up by the roots, and laid aside in the works of the old 
writers, but they do not decay ; the leaves are dry, but they 
are there ; the stem is dry, but that is there ; and tfiere are 
the branches and roots. Trees are estimated by thSr length 
and size ; languages by their duration, number and character 
of their words, constructions, etc. Trees have an average 
length, and languages an average duration and proportionable 



CHAP. I. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 11 

variations. The Greek and Latin languages passed through 
great changes in successive ages ; so also has the English : 
books of three hundred years ago are not generally intelligi- 
ble, and have to be studied with a dictionary, like foreign 
works. 

15. In the time of the authors of the New Testament, the 
Hebrew had become a dead language, and was succeeded by 
the Greek, a foreign importation, in the Greek cities, and 
elsewhere by the Chaldee and Syriac, a domestic growth, 
formed by gradual changes from the Hebrew, and embracing 
nearly all the Hebrew roots, with new terminations and other 
changes of structure. The Chaldee first appears in Jeremiah, 
and to a greater extent in the books of Daniel and Ezra, 
considerable portions of which are in that language. This 
has been supposed to be an importation from Babylon, 
because it appears in Daniel and Ezra, books that describe 
the times of the Babylonian exile, and events immediately 
subsequent to the return ; but this is a mistake ; these books 
were not written in the times they describe ; nor is there any 
proof that the Chaldee was the language of Babylon at this 
time ; it is next to certain that it was not : none of the 
recent discoveries find any traces of Chaldee in Babylonia at 
this period, nor does history know of any. I conclude, there- 
fore, that the Chaldee has no existence, except as a lineal 
successor of the Hebrew, formed from it, and superseding it, 
as the English language of 1862 is formed from the English 
of 1500, and as later dialects in all ages and countries are 
formed from earlier ones. 

16. (1.) The first period of Hebrew literature is from 1095 
B. C. to 536 = 559 years. To this belong the Pentateuch, 
Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings, and the 
first book of Psalms. 

(2.) The second is from 536 B. C. to336 = 200 years. 
To this belong the second and third books of Psalms, and 
the fifteen later prophets — Jonah, Joel, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 



12 BIBLICAL THEOKIES. CHAP. I. 

Nahum, Isaiah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, 
Obadiah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. 

(3.) The third is from 336 B. C. to 37, = 299 years. To 
this belong the fourth and fifth books of Psalms, Proverbs, 
Job, Canticles, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Ruth, Esther, 
Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles. The entire period 
is 1058 years. 

17. The extravagant views entertained by most Christians 
in respect to the antiquity of the Hebrew writings have con- 
tributed much to embarrass their interpretation, and to injurs 
the cause of practical Christianity. It is time that these 
delusions were dissipated, and that Jewish and Christian 
fables were abandoned for honest and well-sustained truth. 
Piety and virtue want no help from superstition ; they want 
truth, and on that alone they nourish and prosper. The 
imperfect success of Christianity hitherto is a providential 
rebuke from God for the imperfect appreciation of its princi- 
ples, and for inappropriate methods of teaching and applying 
them. In connection with my translation of these books, I 
trust I shall show their modern origin with a degree of clear- 
ness that will be generally satisfactory. I here present the 
above rather to excite inquiry than expecting fully to satisfy 
it. The subject will be, if God please, more fully consid- 
ered in a later portion of the work. The different periods of 
Hebrew literature exhibit traces of progress and change, and 
are of great importance in elucidating Jewish history. They 
cannot be neglected or greatly misjudged without confound- 
ing all critical inquiry, and plunging interpreters and scholars 
into delusions and absurdities without end. 



CHAP. II. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 13 



CHAPTER II. 

Greek and Hebrew Jffermeneutics, or Book Interpretation, its 
Relation to the Past. 

1. A science is a branch of knowledge arranged and sys- 
tematized for the convenience both of learners and teachers, 
and for practical application to ulterior objects. None of 
the sciences are ends ; they are all means : no part or item 
of knowledge is an end ; every part and every item of it that 
is of any use, or of any value, is of use as a means to some 
end, and has a value proportionable to that end, and its own 
relation to the attainment of it. The sciences are the con- 
ditions of all possible arts ; they are also the conditions of 
other things, so that the arts, with all the blessings they 
afford, are only a portion of the benefits conditioned on the 
sciences. 

2. Book interpretation is one of the sciences growing out 
of the use of written language, and has for its object the 
determination of the meaning of books. It is called in the 
schools hermeneutics, from the Grecian Hermes, who was 
the messenger of the gods, and interpreted their communica- 
tions to men. I beg leave to propose this more intelligible 
and simple name of book interpretation, and to commend it 
to the attention of the people as not a science to be left for 
the learned only, but to be made a part of the common edu- 
cation of the human race. A knowledge of it is important 
in the interpretation of other books ; but in the interpreta- 
tion of the Bible it is of the most absolute necessity ; and 
also in that of the classic Greek authors. The Hebrew and 
Greek ancient literatures are among the greatest treasures 
of Christendom, and are yet but imperfectly interpreted. 

3. The invention of letters was a great step in the progress 
of the human race ; then came the Aramaean Hebrew written 
language in Palestine, the Greek in Greece and Asia Minor, 

2 






14 BIBLICAIi THEORIES. CHAP. II. 

and the Latin in Italy, and other oriental and western lan- 
guages. The Arabians contributed to the common stock the 
invention of figures, representing numbers by ten characters ; 
and by means of letters, written languages, and figures, them- 
selves a species of written language, we have the sciences, 
and the liberal and higher arts, and all the uncounted and 
inestimable blessings of religious civilization. Written lan- 
guages enable men of the same age to cooperate and help 
each other, not only in preserving, but in extending and ad- 
vancing knowledge ; it also puts it into the power of each 
age to transmit its attainments to all succeeding ages. Till 
the invention of letters, the achievements of each generation 
mostly perished with it, and the same fruitless experiments 
were necessarily repeated from age to age. But with written 
language came a change, and the first introduction of writing 
gave an impulse to the human mind that invested it with 
almost supernatural energy. Hence the grandeur and sub- 
limity of the Homeric poems among the Greeks, and the 
Pentateuch and earlier Prophets among the Hebrews. Their 
authors seize the traditionary creations and reminiscences of 
unlettered ages, and commit them to the lettered page, with 
an energy and force of intellect that seem more than human. 
But their stopping place is only the starting place of all sub- 
sequent thinking ; in the hurry and confusion, and amid the 
revolutions of ages, the precise chronological epoch of that 
starting place is left to be a matter of some doubt and uncer- 
tainty, both among the Greeks and Hebrews. Its precise 
position on the shores of the storm-lashed sea of the past, 
like the determination of the birth of Christ, is hard to be 
reached, and is not yet determined with precision. 

4. After the invention of letters, the Hebrews wrote the 
books of the Bible, and have given them to mankind as a 
precious legacy to read and interpret ; and the Greeks wrote 
the vast variety of works which we have from them. Both 
are before us as documentary evidences of what has been, 



CHAP. II. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 15 

and signs and auguries of what is yet to be. Both these 
collections of literature extend back into an indefinite past, 
where they take their rise, like mighty rivers among the hills 
and mountains, and on the high table lands of time, amid 
eternal solitudes, over which the night of ages has closed, to 
know no morning. The land of the past is a far off country, 
which we can never visit ; but from that land these mighty 
rivers come down with a precious world of wealth, gems from 
the mountains, and gold from the mines, and sweep with 
their priceless stores by our feet ; if we will, they pour them 
into our arms and into our bosoms. Both are legitimate ob- 
jects of study, both are rivers of life and love ; and trees of 
life, bearing all manner of precious fruits, skirt their banks. 
But of the two, the Hebrew literature takes us farther back, 
and deeper down into the mysteries of the universe. It is 
concerned mainly with a single subject, and contains the 
results of labors and observations of all past generations in 
that particular line, up to the time that its canon is closed. 

5. The Hebrews give us whatever they deemed valuable 
from their fathers back to the first man, and the additions 
they had been able to make to the common stock. In one 
point of view it is not much ; it is all comprehended in a sin- 
gle volume, and bought for a few cents, and easily read 
through in a single year, without interrupting the ordinary 
labors of life. But in other points of view, it is very much ; 
more than language can express, or mind conceive. It is the ^ 
records of the race from its beginning in one of its most re- 
markable divisions. It contains waymarks far back in the 
past, in the land of shadows, once cast by living, breathing 
mortals, and details for our instruction the results of their 
labors and sufferings. It is the monument of past genera- 
tions, and the letter of their instructions to us. 

6. These documents have been sadly misunderstood, their 
facts overlooked and distorted, their soul- animating truths 
ignored, and their lessons of practical wisdom perverted for 



16 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. II. 

the support of pernicious errors and delusions. There is no 
proper agreement among men in regard to their teachings. 
Even good men, learned men, cautious and careful reasoners, 
depart widely from each other on these highways of the uni- 
verse, and often scowl disdainfully on each other's most pre- 
cious gatherings from these stores. Can we develop a science 
of the sacred books of the Hebrews ? Can we introduce into 
our judgments of them the same clearness and certainty which 
we have attained in the interpretation of the books of the 
Greeks ? Can Genesis be made as intelligible as the Iliad ? 
Can we understand Psalms and Job as well as we understand 
the hymns and tragedies of the Greeks ? Can we understand 
Canticles, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Daniel ? Can the fun- 
damental principles of biblical interpretation and biblical 
science ever be settled and become undeniable ? I think 
they can, and that all good men should labor hopefully and 
diligently to accomplish this result. Something may be done 
in our times. Much has been done in the last fifty years ; in 
the last two hundred years very much ; but much remains to 
be done ; and the greatest single step to be taken in this mat- 
ter, is to abandon the absurd method of interpreting the Bible 
by authority, either ancient or modern, ecclesiastical or indi- 
vidual, and to interpret it by the known laws of language. 
True meanings come from documents, and are not imposed 
on them. By violent interpretations, documents are made to 
mean any thing ; like a sufferer on the rack, they assent to 
any thing which is prescribed for them ; but unforced and 
unconstrained, they tell only what they mean, and deliver to 
patient inquirers secrets which violent interpreters have over- 
looked and silenced for ages. 

7. Many commentaries and works on biblical interpreta- 
tion are singularly unfortunate in the extent to which the ele- 
ment of authority is allowed to usurp the place of evidence ; 
it helps us little to decide between different possible mean- 
ings of a passage, to know that Presbyterians understand it 



CHAP. III. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 17 

one way and Episcopalians another. The anthority of Pres- 
byterians may prevail with Presbyterians, and that of Epis- 
copalians with Episcopalians ; but it makes no difference 
with the truth, who receives it or who rejects it ; neither is 
it determined by its receivers, but by its evidences. The 
history of interpretation takes account of authorities, and of 
denominational and traditional interpretations ; but interpre- 
tation itself asks for the view that is made certain by evi- 
dence, and to what extent certainty can be reached, and 
stops. Interpretation is the key of knowledge, and has 
vast stores yet to unlock in the Hebrew and Christian sacred 
Scriptures. 

CHAPTER III. 

The Greek and Hebrew Languages, and their Relations to 
each other ; their earliest Works. 

1. The origins of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages 
were all, previous to the invention and use of letters, in an 
unexplored antiquity. The Hebrew language is the parent 
stock from which the Greek and Latin are illustrious off- 
shoots ; and, as often happens in the natural world, the off- 
shoots were for a long time contemporaneous with the origi- 
nal tree, and far exceeded it in beauty, and in many o$ their 
fruits. 

2. The relation of the Greek and Latin languages to the 
Hebrew, as the parent tree, is proved by the considerable 
number of Hebrew words which they have among their 
primitives, and by the relations of their pronoun, noun, and 
verb systems to those of the Hebrews. The ego, I, of the 
Greeks and Romans, is anochi of the Hebrews, confounded 
on the lips, or modified and abbreviated; the Greek and 
Latin su and tu, and English thou, are the Hebrew ata and 
at. Other obvious relations may be distinctly traced between 
the Greek and Latin pronouns and those of the Hebrews. 

2* 



18 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. III. 

3. The Greek cases of nouns are an advance on the Hebrew- 
methods, which, after being used for ages, are finally aban- 
doned, with the exception of the possessive case, as of no 
real necessity nor use. The conjugation of the Greek and 
Latin verbs are an advance on the Hebrew method, which is 
also abandoned for a substitute, by the use of auxiliary 
verbs. This too originated with the Greeks, and is likely 
never to be laid aside. The structure of the Greek and Latin 
moods and tenses is one of the prodigies of human art, greater 
than the Pyramids, and equally enduring. The Hebrew lan- 
guage has two distinctions of tense, which are extremely 
indefinite, and therefore imperfect. They are formed by a 
modification of the ground form of the verb by pronominal 
suffixes and prefixes. Actions past and finished have the 
suffix modification only ; those in the future and unfinished, 
which are partly in the future, have both a suffix modifica- 
tion to signify person, and a prefix modification, derived also 
from the pronoun, to signify time. 

4. The Greeks made great improvements on this method, 
and introduced a complete system of tenses, most of which 
were adopted by the Romans, and are still preserved in mod- 
ern languages. But there was some redundancy in the Greek 
tenses, which the Romans did not. copy, and which modern 
languages do not preserve. Its two aorists, indefinite past 
tenses, are abandoned, and its imperfect alone retained. Such 
are the laws of progress. Without design, and without con- 
cert, millions of individuals are working incessant changes on 
the structure of language, all tending to its higher perfection 
and usefulness. Many, not comprehending the beneficent 
operations of these changes, oppose and denounce them as 
injurious ; but on they go, steady as the march of time, and 
strong as Omnipotence. They are a part of the river of life, 
and of the river of divine love, and are speeding to their source. 

5. The second great epoch in the history of these languages 
is the introduction of letters. Their alphabets are different, 



CHAP. III. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 19 

but have a common origin in the Hebrew. The Hebrew is 
the primitive stock alphabet, 'as its language is the primitive 
stock language ; and the Greek and Roman alphabets are 
offshoots from it. This appears from several facts : 1 . Greek 
traditions on the subject bring the earliest known letters of 
their alphabet from Palestine, and claim only additions and 
modifications for the Greeks. 2. Nearly all the Greek let- 
ters are modifications of the Hebrew, with improvements, 
first making them face in the opposite direction, to correspond 
with the western position of the Greeks, and their writing 
from left to right, and in some cases directly inverting them ; 
but in all cases simplifying and beautifying them. 

6. The earliest works received from the Greeks after the 
invention of letters, are the Homeric poems, and the earliest 
from the Hebrews are the Pentateuch and earlier Prophets, 
consisting of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 
Kings. Hesiod follows Homer among the Greeks, and gleans 
after him the vast field of the Greek past ; both find treasures 
of priceless value. 

7. The first part of the Bible, from Genesis to the end of 
2 Kings, is a single work of the time of Ezra, and perhaps 
from his pen ; but transcribes portions of many earlier works, 
all of which have perished. The style of the book is that, 
not of the book of Ezra, which is a later composition, but of 
the time of Ezra. Its divisions are arbitrary, as well as the 
names assigned them, and some of them injudicious. Gen- 
esis certainly is no proper title of the first book, and Num- 
bers is a continuation of Exodus, which ought not to be sep- 
arated from it. 

8. The work goes back to the earliest times, apparently 
selecting from the then existing literature of the Hebrews, 
whatever was deemed valuable either in history or allegory. 
Its author is the Jewish Herodotus. Its allegories are 
historical, and many of them enigmatic. They are full of 
instruction and information, and wait to yield up invaluable 



20 BIBLICAL THEOKTES. CHAP. IV. 

stores, which are yet concealed, and the existence of which 
is not usually suspected. A knowledge of the late date of 
the first part of the Bible, and the interpretation of the Pen- 
tateuch and earlier Prophets to the end of 2 Kings, as a 
single work of the time of Ezra, are of vast importance to 
Christendom, and ought to receive attention. It ought also 
to be known that no erroneous interpretation of the Bible 
can possibly enhance its value ; its highest usefulness is 
dependent on its most exact interpretation. 

9. To interpret the Bible correctly, its different works and 
documents must be carefully discriminated, and their age and 
character determined. Any negligence or inadvertence in 
this department of our inquiries, is sure to vitiate our conclu- 
sions, and lead to interminable errors. For want of this dis- 
crimination, Christianity has suffered greatly in times past, 
and is still suffering ; and to discriminate accurately between 
the allegorical and the literal, in the sacred writings, is per- 
haps the great problem of the age. Its solution will be the 
happy precursor of another vast stride in the onward prog- 
ress of Christianity, and in the religious, moral, intellectual, 
and physical culture of the race. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The name Jehovah; its History and ancient Pronunciation. 

1. The name of the supreme God of the Jews appears to 
us, in the Scriptures, only by its representatives. We find 
this first in Gen. 2 : 4, in the following connection : These are 
the birth records of the heavens and the earth, when they 
were created, in the day that Jehovah of gods created them. 
The passage is rendered in the Septuagint, This is the book 
of the generation of heaven and earth, when it was made, on 
the day that Kurios the God made the heaven and the earth. 
The Lord God of the common English Bible is a mistransla- 



CHAP, IT. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 21 

tion. The original admits of some diversity of rendering, 
but this is not among its possible meanings. It means, as 
rendered above, Jehovah of gods, or Jehovah a god. To 
signify Jehovah God, the second term ought to be followed 
by some definitive word showing what god is intended, as 
God of heaven ; and in the absence of any such definitive 
term, the construction Jehovah God is insignificant, or synon- 
ymous with Jehovah a god, and therefore inadmissible. The 
question lies between Jehovah of gods and Jehovah a god, 
as the proper translation of the original, and between these 
there is little to choose ; they amount to the same thing. 
Jehovah represents the name of the individual, and if a god 
is preferred, that term denotes the species ; if of gods is 
preferred, of gods is still a definitive clause, although it does 
not necessarily signify species ; it leaves room for the sup- 
position of other relations, and may mean God of gods, or 
Father of gods, etc. This formula occurs occasionally in all 
periods of Hebrew literature. 

2. In the second period we have a new formula represented 
by Jehovah God of hosts, and Jehovah of hosts, which in 
some books of the prophets occurs quite frequently. The 
hosts of armies referred to in this formula are heavenly hosts, 
that is, heavenly beings mustered for sacred processions, and 
such other purposes as might be suitable to the heavenly 
state, not excluding even wars. Jehovah is the supreme 
ruler of these hosts ; he marshals, leads, and commands 
them. There is a striking correspondence between Jehovah 
of gods and Jehovah of hosts. In the earlier periods of 
Hebrew literature, all heavenly beings were called gods, sons 
of the gods, etc. In the middle period, less august titles 
began to be applied to the inferior gods, and this is one of 
them, in which they are contemplated still as celestials, but 
not necessarily as gods, but rather as subordinates under Je- 
hovah. The name represented by Jah also makes its appear- 
ance in the earliest period of the Hebrew literature. 



22 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. IV. 

3. In the latest period, we find the name represented by 
Jehovah and Jah ; but Jehovah of hosts is discontinued, as 
Jehovah of gods had been before. Jah is used quite fre- 
quently, and is a contraction formed from the word repre- 
sented by Jehovah, agreeably to the usages of all ages and 
countries, of which we have many examples in our times. 

4. The last period of Hebrew literature terminates before 
the time of Christ. In his time the Hebrew was a dead lan- 
guage, and was superseded by the Chaldee and Syriac, and 
to some extent by the Greek ; especially among the Jews of 
Alexandria and other Greek cities. The Septuagint, and 
perhaps some of the Targums, were translated during this 
last period; some were talking and writing Hebrew, and 
others Greek and Chaldee ; and translations were immedi- 
ately required. The Hebrew did not pass away every where 
at once ; it was first abandoned in one place, and then in 
another, and so on. 

5. The Septuagint was translated previous to the year 130 
B. C, parts of it doubtless long before. The earliest Tar- 
gums or Chaldee translations come down from about the time 
of Christ. In all these translations, and in the New Testa- 
ment, as well as in the Chaldee portions of the old, the 
ancient name represented by Jehovah is entirely ignored. It 
is never referred to in a Gospel or Epistle, nor in Revelation, 
and was not admitted in a single instance into the Septuagint, 
or into a Targum. The same God is still worshipped, and 
his service enjoined on the human race, but the venerable 
name by which he had been called throughout all the Hebrew 
Scriptures is suppressed ; and in the place of it we have in 
Greek Kvgiog (Kurios), Lord, and in Chaldee a modification 
of Jah, and other titles equivalent to Kurios. 

6. The abandonment and suppression of the ancient name 
represented by Jehovah, is one of the most remarkable events 
in the history of religion. The Jews account for it on prin- 
ciples of superstition, which we cannot accept ; their super- 



CHAP. IV. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 23 

stitions were no doubt adequate to 'such a measure, but other 
considerations must have concurred to induce its rejection, 
in opposition to all previous usage. It had been the burden 
of all their most joyous songs, and dwelt on every lip. 

7. The name was abandoned before the times of the New 
Testament writers, and, for aught that appears, the knowl- 
edge of it gradually lost. The New Testament writers take 
the new names, which they find in use, and hand them along, 
but leave the old one apparently unexplored. About 750 
A. D., the Hebrew scholars formed and added to their 
ancient Scriptures that remarkable commentary known as the 
vowel points, which has since been accepted by most as part 
of the original Scriptures themselves, although it is really no 
part of them, and in some cases perverts them, and interprets 
them incorrectly. In the construction of this great and elab- 
orate work, one of the greatest and most elaborate which we 
have ever received from Jewish hands, and which must have 
cost the labor of centuries, true to their national policy of 
concealment in respect to the ancient name of Jehovah, they 
do not allow it the benefit of their illustration ; and, instead 
of giving it the points which according to their system be- 
longed to it, they gave it the points of other and common 
names ; not designing it to be read even by those, but design- 
ing to have it omitted in reading, and other words read for it. 
The Jews never read the original name, but always represent 
it by a substitute. 

8. Christians adopt a different method. They read the 
ancient name according to the points of Adonai, its usual 
Jewish substitute, and make it Jehovah. Such is the origin 
of the term Jehovah, and it is without a parallel in the his- 
tory of literature. The letters of Jehovah that correspond to 
the original word, are J, h, v, h, which, according to the 
modern method of pronunciation, are unpronounceable. The 
vowels interpolated from Adonai are a changed to e, o, and a 
final, making Jehovah. In making out their system of points, 



BIBLICAL THEORIES. 



the Jewish scholars assumed that the Hebrew letters were all 
consonants, and always consonants ; and they are so regarded 
by modern Hebraists. But this was not the fact. Several 
of these letters were as much vowels as the vowels of the 
Greeks and Romans, and indeed were the same identical 
vowels which the Greeks and Romans adopted. The Greek 
E (capital epsilon or e) is the Hebrew ft (he), with some change 
of form. The Greek letter is a vowel ; the Hebrew is a vowel 
in certain positions; their sounds are the same. The Hebrew n 
(he) final is represented by the Greek « (a), ag (as), or rjg (es) ; 
as in Ada, Judas, Moses, etc. The Greek & (capital theta or 
th) is the Hebrew i (yodh), enclosed in a circle on account of 
its smallness, to give it easy visibility ; but it represents the 
Hebrew letter only as a consonant, not as a vowel. When the 
Greeks use that letter as a vowel, it is enlarged and made to 
stand up thus : /. The Greek J (iota) represents the sounds 
of i y and with the c (aspirate), that of j, the former a vowel, 
the latter a consonant. They use similar liberties with other 
letters. Some letters in most languages are used interchange- 
ably one for another. The Hebrew 1 (vau) in Greek is rep- 
resented by o (o), u (u and v). As a vowel it is always 
equivalent to o ox u. A thorough comparison and analysis 
of the Hebrew, Greek, and Roman alphabets show striking 
affinities between them. The Hebrew is the parent of the 
others, and was copied freely and with great improvements, 
especially in restricting the sounds and uses of single letters. 
9. Let us now construct the ancient Hebrew letters of 
mil* 1 (J-h-v-h), the name represented by Jehovah, into words, 
by substituting the same number of corresponding Greek and 
Roman letters, and we have the Greek 'Ievg, 'Iedg, c Iev<k; 
Zevg, Ze6g } Zevb; Oeog, Gevg^ Geva ; Latin, Deus — English 
equivalents, Jeva, Jeua, Theva, Theua, Thea, etc. From 
the Greek Zevg (Zeus) comes Ju-piter, contracted from Jeus- 
pater ; and from the Latin Deus, and the Greek Qeog (Theos), 
we have in English Deity, Theology, etc. The Saxon God 



CHAP. IV. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 25 

is. possibly a transformation from the same root — Je = g, 
o unchanged, s sibilant changed to d. Any scholar may 
verify this solution by a comparison of Hebrew names with 
those of the Septuagint. The Septuagint shows their Greek 
representatives and equivalents, when both languages were 
used together. The Greek language delights in g (sigma, or s) 
as the termination of masculine proper names, and it was to 
some extent a sign of the nominative, being dropped in all 
oblique cases ; so that names in which the Hebrew ft (he) 
final is represented by g in Greek may have been Grecized in 
conformity with this principle. This supposition makes the 
above forms, with s, representatives of the Hebrew name, 
with modifications, and allows us to take the preceding letter 
as equivalent to v or u, which makes the names, as pro- 
nounced by the Hebrews, Jeva, Jeua, Theva, Theua, Deva, 
Deua, and by contraction, Jea, Thea, Dea. The last form 
is the Greek Qeu (Thea) and the Roman Dea, goddess. 

10. We find, on constructing the word, that in some of its 
forms it is an old acquaintance. The Greek Zevg was the 
name of their supreme God, when Homer sung of the cap- 
ture of Troy, and from that time onward. The Greek Osog 
was also their common name for God. If you preserve the 
J", as more exactly expressing the usual sound of the first 
letter, according to the analogy of Septuagint names, Jeus 
and Zeus differ but slightly, and would easily be confounded 
on the lip. The method of Gesenius and others makes the 
ancient name represented by Jehovah Javeh, or Jevah, and 
some Javoh. With the first of these my solution agrees. 
The h final in these cases is silent, and may be omitted, 
which reduces them to my formula. This letter is supernu- 
merary, and the representation of the ancient word letter by 
letter is complete without it. 

11. The reason now appears why the Jews, on adopting 
the Greek* language and becoming acquainted with Greek 
literature, abandoned the ancient name of their God. It was 

3 



26 BIBLICAL THEOBIES. CHAP. Y. 

because the Greeks had it, and had been in possession of it 
from time immemorial; it was because the name was ap- 
plied by the Greeks to denote their supreme God in one form, 
and in a slightly modified form, to denote all their gods. Its 
suppression, in the presence of these facts, must have involved 
a consideration of them, and must have been an act of policy. 
Whether it was good policy may well be questioned. A true 
religion scorns concealment and artifice ; it is as open and 
unreserved as science, and as fearless, and has as little cause 
to fear. 

12. Jehovah, the Christian substitute for the ancient name, 
is intrinsically less eligible than the name by an additional 
syllable^ and by more than doubling its length in pronuncia- 
tion. Jeus, Dens, Theos, and Zeus are short and easy words, 
such as the tongue loves to utter, and on which the mind 
loves to dwell. Jehovah is not a pleasant word ; it cannot be 
worked into lyric poetry to any considerable extent, and is ex- 
tremely unsuitable for the name of the true God. Of all the 
names in the world, that, ought to be a name to be loved and 
sung. 

CHAPTER V. 

Early Hebrew Traditions. 

1 . It was the high prerogative of the Hebrews to receive 
from the earliest times reminiscences of the doings and for- 
tunes of the human race lost by all its other branches. These 
were mostly invested with the attractive garbs of allegories 
and enigmas to make them memorable, only leaving enough 
of literal statement to serve as a key to interpretation. It is 
impossible that those early traditionists, who, without letters, 
undertook to send down information by the lip to the latest 
ages, could have been fully aware of the magnitude and im- 
portance of the work they had in hand. They acted in this, 
doubtless, on views of their own, and for reasons of their 



CHAP. V. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 27 

own, views narrow and reasons narrow, such as the age to 
which they belonged could reach and comprehend ; but they 
acted out unconsciously, as man often does, the higher reason 
of the infinite Father, and he alone could have understood the 
vast importance of their work. There are some actions of 
men performed by them from narrow and human views, that 
have a double character ; in a higher relation they are acts 
of God, performed by him from the highest and broadest 
views possible to an infinite mind. 

2. Abraham seems to have had these early traditions, and 
to have given them to Isaac, his favorite son, Isaac to Jacob, 
Jacob to all his sons, between whom they became a bond of 
union and confederacy. But like other streams, the stream 
of tradition enlarged with the ages down whose slopes it 
came ; to the previous traditions were added, after Abraham, 
the Abrahamic, after Isaac and Jacob the Isaachic and Ja- 
cobic ; after Moses the Mosaic, and so on till we come to the 
times of Samuel. 

3. There are many breaks and chasms in the traditionary 
history. We receive only the remarkable, the extraordinary. 
It has now, in the times of Samuel, grown from a mountain 
rill to a mighty river. It began far back, in a single fountain, 
with the Adamic stock ; the scions from that stock in the time 
of Samuel had grown into numerous nations and races. How 
great must have been the care to keep these traditions along, 
and how precious was the trust ! The reduction of these facts 
to allegoric and enigmatic forms, that were both memorable 
and intelligible, and the handing of them down by the lip 
through a period, according to the common computation, of 
2900 years, till the time of Samuel, — in reality vastly longer, 
— are prodigies of human labor and skill, and well justify the 
assumption that God had the matter under his care. 

4. In Samuel and David's time we are allowed to suppose 
they may have been first committed to such imperfect writing 
as the period immediately succeeding the Aramaean invention 



28 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. V. 

of letters allowed. Of this, however, we have no certain 
evidence ; nor is it necessary we should have. 

5. News carriers are not always competent news interpret- 
ers, or masters of their messages ; and probably long before 
the invention of letters, the Hebrews had lost the true inter- 
pretation of some of their most ancient traditions ; but it 
was no great matter if they had ; their traditions were for 
ages to come, when the race should attain a maturity and 
intellectuality sufficient to enable it to profit by them. The 
Hebrews of the age of Ezra committed these traditions to 
writing in the form in which we now receive them, and passed 
them along. Most attempts to interpret them, hitherto, have 
been sad failures ; the most contradictory theories on the 
subject have been adopted by the best of men ; and gener- 
ally the most absurd and puerile methods have received most 
favor, and been most popular. 

6. Truth is better than fiction, and fiction properly inter- 
preted is often most important truth, and yet unknown truth 
is often descried with terror, and approached with dread. 
It looms up to our view in the distance like mountains 
of ice and snow, on which no green thing is found ; it 
threatens, to our bewildered imaginations, to come down upon 
us like a destroying avalanche, and crush us forever ; good 
men shrink away with alarm, and bad men with horror. No 
terms are too vituperative by which to characterize the dread- 
ful object, and no sacrifices too great to be made in resisting 
it ; and yet, when approached and understood, the mountain 
of destruction becomes the mount of God, clouded and 
crowned, and flowing down with mercies ; and the object of 
our ignorant and misdirected terror, is ever after the song of 
our rejoicing. ^ 



CHAP. VI. BIBLICAL THEORIES! 29 



CHAPTER VI. 

Hehrev: Account of the Creation of the World by Alohim in 
Sic Days, and the Appointment of the Sabbath. 

1. Ix the beginning Alohim [God] created [cut out] the 
heavens and the earth. And the earth was desolate and 
empty ; and darkness was on the face of the abyss, and God's 
spirit [the air] sat lightly on the face of the waters. And 
God said, Let there be light, and light was ; and God saw 
the light, that it was good ; and God separated between the 
light and darkness ; and God called the light day, and the 
darkness called he night ; and the evening and morning were 
the first day. 1 : 1-5. 

2. And God said, Let there be a firmament between the 
waters, and let it separate the waters [above] from the waters 
[below]. And God made the firmament, and separated the 
waters which were under the firmament from the waters which 
were over the firmament ; and it was so ; and God called the 
firmament heavens ; and the evening and morning were the 
second day. 6-8. 

3. And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be 
collected together into one place, and let the dry land appear; 
and it was so. And God called the dry laad earth, and the 
collection of the waters called he seas ; and God saw that it 
was good. And God said, Let the earth grow grass, the 
plant bearing seed, the fruit tree bearing fruit for his species, 
whose seed is in it for his species ; and God saw that it was 
good ; and the evening and morning were the third day. 9-13. 

4. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of 
the heavens, to separate between day and night ; and let them 
be for lights in the firmament of the heavens, to give light on the 
earth ; and it was so. And God made the two great lights ; 
the greater light to rule the day, and the smaller light to rule 
the night ; and [he made] the stars ; and God set them in 

3* 



30 



BIBLICAL THEORIES. 



CHAP. VI. 



the firmament of the heavens, to give light on the earth, and 
to rule day and night, and separate between light and dark- 
ness ; and God saw that it was good ; and the evening and 
morning were the fourth day. 14-19. 

5 And God said, Let the waters produce abundantly prod- 
ucts having animal life, and the bird which shall fly over the 
earth in the face of the firmament of the heavens ; and God 
created great sea-monsters, and every living soul that moves, 
which the waters produced abundantly, according to their 
species, and every winged bird according to his species ; and 
God saw that it was good ; and God blessed them, saying, 
Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas ; and 
let the birds be multiplied on the earth ; and the evening and 
morning were the fifth day. 20-23. 

6. And God said, Let the earth bring forth animal life, 
according to her species, cattle, and reptile, and beast of the 
earth, according to her species, and every reptile of the 
ground according to his species ; and God saw that it was 
good. Then God [Gods] said, Let us make man in our im- 
age, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion 
over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, 
and over cattle, and over all the earth, and over every reptile 
that creeps on the earth. And God created man in his image, 
in the image of Got! created he him, male and female created 
he them ; and God blessed them ; and God said to them, Be 
fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it, and 
rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heav- 
ens, and over every animal that moves on the earth. And 
God said, Behold, I give you every plant bearing seed which 
is on the face of the earth, and every tree on which is the 
fruit of a tree bearing seed ; it shall be yours for food ; and 
every animal which is on the earth, and every bird of the 
heavens, and every [reptile] in which is the breath of life, 
that creeps on the earth, shall have every green plant for 
food ; and it was so. And God saw all that he made, and 



CHAP. VI. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 31 

behold, it was very good ; and the evening and morning were 
the sixth day. 24-31. 

7. And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all 
their host ; and God finished on the seventh day his work, 
which he made, and rested on the seventh day from all his 
work which he made ; and God blessed the seventh day, and 
hallowed it ; for in it God rested from all his work which he 
created to make. 2 : 1-3. 

1. This gem of ancient tradition would be worth its weight 
in gold, if it weighed hundreds of pounds. It is complete 
and entire in itself, and in some respects differs from the one 
that follows. Which possesses the greater antiquity, it is 
difficult to decide with certainty. The prior position of this 
tradition is not certain evidence of prior origin. It has a 
perfection and finish which indicates that successive ages did 
their work upon it, and is the monument of considerable 
study. That it is a human production, and not an express 
communication from the Creator, announcing the plan, and 
method, and order of his work, appears from its contents. 
It carries unmistakable evidence of human authorship, and 
also of a fictitious character in its teachings, some of which 
will be noted as we proceed. 

2. It describes the creation by Alohim, commonly called 
Elohim, but it does not describe it as a creation in the mod- 
ern sense of that word ; it does not comprehend the creation 
of matter or mind. These are presupposed. Not a particle 
of matter appears to have been made in these six days, nor a 
soul of man or animal. But the great Architect finds the 
materials for a world, and a kind of primordial world itself, 
in a state of emptiness and desolation, and constructs them 
into the present grand and glorious edifice, with all its ten- 
ants and all its furniture. The recognition of matter as 
created, did not belong to any of the ancient systems, either 
Hebrew or Greek. They therefore did not reach the true 



32 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VI. 

doctrine of creation ; their gods were constructionists and 
architects, not creators. The true creation is giving exist- 
ence to matter and mind in their elementary atoms. Giving 
existence to these is creation, not mere construction, and has 
only been reached in comparatively modern times. But it is 
fully reached, and is the object of the concurring faith of all 
Christian nations and denominations. The ancient logic of 
this narrative is on the way to the true theory of creation, 
but does not reach it. 

3. The problem of the universe cannot be solved on the 
supposition of uncreated and independent matter, nor is that 
the last and highest supposition possible. There is one step 
beyond; and having taken this, and attempted in vain to solve 
the system of the universe on this supposition, we are as 
much compelled to take another step, and assume the crea- 
tion and dependence of matter and mind, as the old Hebrews 
and Greeks were to assume an architect and constructor. 

4. The elimination of the temporal from the eternal and the 
independent, is one of the highest problems in human science. 
Something is eternal ; what is it ? all known existences con- 
stitute two categories — matter and mind ; neither perish, 
neither appear to be perishable ; are they all eternal ? Their 
elements neither change nor appear to be changeable ; are 
these elements eternal ? Human minds are the highest order 
of earthly minds, and stand at the head of a terrestrial series, 
the Opposite extreme of which is only a single stage above 
vegetable life. It is entirely conceivable that the head of 
the terrestrial series may be the foot of another higher series, 
that reaches up to infinity ; and if there is an infinite mind, 
may he not be the creator and author of all other minds, 
and also of all matter ? This is one method of reaching the 
conception of an infinite mind ; it is reached by many 
others ; and the moment it is reached as a possibility, it 
becomes a question either of probability or certainty. If 
it is possible, the next question is as to its probability; 



CHAP. VI. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 33 

and if it is found to be probable, the final question is, May 
not probability in its favor be changed to certainty, by ob- 
servations sufficiently extensive, and a logic sufficiently severe 
and comprehensive ? These stages of inquiry have all been 
passed through, and the conclusion reached by many dif- 
ferent lines of argument, that the series of minds extends 
upwards from man to an infinite spirit. An infinite spirit is 
a spirit that fills infinite space, and is not capable of form, or 
change of place ; it is also possessed of all possible powers 
proper to a spirit. The existence of such a spirit with mat- 
ter and other minds, compels us to place it in matter and 
other minds, and make it the principle of all other beings, 
material and spiritual. Thus the infinite spirit becomes, by 
a legitimate and irresistible deduction of reason, the first 
cause, and the continual supporting cause, both of matter 
and all other minds ; and both matter and all other minds 
become dependent and temporary in their existing forms, 
while the infinite spirit alone is eternal, unchangeable, and 
independent. As a conceivable and possible hypothesis, 
this supposition becomes intensely interesting, and, if we 
could go no farther with it, would be entitled to a place in 
the highest regards and affections of the human race ; but it 
is believed to be as certain as the great law of gravitation, 
and the doctrines of the solar and stellar systems. If matter 
is independent, there is no single first cause ; matter is not 
single, but consists of an infinite number of atoms. The 
supposition of an infinite number of first causes, is attended 
with great embarrassments and difficulties. Besides, matter 
is not intelligent ; it acts mechanically and chemically, but it 
does not act from thought, foresight, or design. The universe 
exhibits evidences of design in its structure, and also in the 
constitution of its elementary particles, and presupposes a 
cause that is designing. This precondition is of absolute 
necessity ; any less cause than this leaves the universe entire- 
ly unaccounted for, in respect to all its higher objects and 



34 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VI. 

their relations ; so that the doctrine of a Creator as well as 
an Architect, who forms his materials and constructs creation 
with them, is a necessity of reason, and therefore a fact as 
undeniable as the mysteries it solves, and the other facts 
which presuppose it. 

5. Matter points to eternity and independence either in 
itself or in its maker ; it claims neither in itself ; it presup- 
poses a maker by the different properties of different atoms, 
and their adaptation to a common end, and an end out of 
themselves. Such an adaptation is no chance work; rea- 
son therefore seeks a higher cause necessarily, and finds it 
in the methods of a rational and reliable logic, and acknowl- 
edges it, and reasons from it ever after. Theism once reached 
is the solvent of all other systems, and the highest cause, the 
cause of all other causes, and the end of reason's chain ; 
there is nothing before it nor after it; every thing else is 
under it. God stands alone, and has immensity to hitn- 
self, and pervades it all. Was there a time when he was 
actually alone, and there was not a sun, nor system, nor par- 
ticle of matter, nor a mind besides himself in the universe — 
and no universe but himself? It is said yes. Is this a fancy 
or a fact? Is it a response of reason from the oracle of the 
past, or a misinterpretation of existing phenomena and crea- 
ture objects ? Why cannot God be creator, and creation be 
eternal as himself? Why can it not be his dress, the apart- 
ments of his dwelling, the shops of his office work, related 
to him as the body to the soul of man, and coexistent with 
him in the relation of subordination and dependence ? If 
creation is eternal, it is not the less dependent, nor the less of 
God. If we find the materials in God, sustaining the" relation 
of dependence on him, it is the same as if he made them ; he 
makes them, on this supposition, from eternity, and from eter- 
nity supports them, but not by necessity. I conclude, there- 
fore, that God is the creator of matter ; but it does not follow 
from his creating it, that it is not eternal ; the contrary seems 



CHAP. VI. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 35 

the more probable, and perhaps is the only supposition ad- 
missible. If an eternal mind exists in all space with matter 
and other minds depending on it, it may from eternity have 
supported the same in some form or other, as well as support 
them now. 

6. This supposition has the advantage of derogating in no 
degree from the perfections of God, and of making the past 
a complete type and counterpart of the future, each equally 
without end, giving the universe an infinite past, as it de- 
mands an infinite future. If this is correct, architectural 
creation belongs to all time past, and will go down to all 
time to come ; it never began, it will never end ; it never 
has been suspended for a day, it never will be. This is the 
last and highest idea of creation, and is revealed, not in books, 
but in the Creator's works ; it is a conception of infinite 
grandeur. 

7. Reason assumes first a mind, intelligent, designing and 
predesigning, and all-pervading ; it also assumes its absolute 
infinity, eternity, and independence ; then comes the determi- 
nation of its relation to matter and other minds as their crea- 
tor and supporter, and lastly its relation to them as their 
eternal creator and supporter, by which the problem of the 
universe is completely solved, and God is found to be all and 
in all ; the original, eternal creator, and the constant repairer 
and rebuilder, improving continually his works, never resting 
even for a Sabbath. Why should the infinite rest ? 

8. Questions may still be raised about the first cause. 
How is the first cause absolute, infinite, unconditioned, eter- 
nal and unchangeable, all- wise ? But these questions cannot 
be entertained ; they can only be dismissed. We may as well 
ask how space is absolute, infinite, unconditioned, eternal, 
and unchangeable ? There it is ; it stares us in the face ; it 
defies our scepticism, and it equally with the highest cause 
confounds our reason the moment we undertake to compre- 
hend it. Space and the highest cause are the two infinities 



36 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VI. 

of the "universe, and both equally undeniable and defiant 
of scepticism. In respect to quantity we stop with infinite 
space, and in respect to causality, or power, with an infinite 
power, which we call the first or highest cause. But this 
title is not perfect ; the true title is the absolute cause, or the 
ultimate power, which appears in the universe. Infinite 
space is not well described as the first or highest space ; and 
the absolute cause is no better described as the first or highest 
cause. Absolute space comprehends all space, and condi- 
tions all spaces ; so the absolute cause comprehends and con- 
ditions all causes. This is God. 

9. Here we stop ; and here the path of knowledge ends 
in a knowledge of the infinite, the uncreated, and therefore 
the eternal and unchangeable, and also the all- wise and 
all-good ; for these are essential prerequisites in a cause suf- 
ficient to account for the universe. The absolute cause cannot 
be less than all-wise and all-good, as the fountain cannot be 
below the stream. The Hebrew solution of the mystery of 
the universe is not complete and final ; it leaves the most 
important question of all untouched : Is matter created ? Is 
God the author of matter ? Each atom is a world ; the num- 
ber of atoms is apparently infinite ; is God the author of all 
those infinitesimal worlds ? When did he create them, and 
how many days did it take him to accomplish that work ? 

10. What could have been the ancient idea of the nature 
and constitution of light, it is difficult to guess, and impossi- 
ble to infer with certainty, from this narrative. The primi- 
tive condition is assumed correctly to be that of darkness. 

11. The first day God created light, and made day; it is 
assumed previously to have been night. This was deemed 
work enough for one day, although it required but a single 
word. But it does not appear to have been contemplated 
apart from the day itself, and must be understood as if God 
had said, Let there be a day. A day passes without sun, 
moon, or star, vegetable or animal, and without a firmament 



CHAP. VI. EIBLICAL THEOEIES, 37 

or visible sky. What was the use of it ? This has much 
more the appearance of a man-made day than of one that is 
God-made, and shows no very profound analysis of the sub- 
ject on the part of the allegorist. Science cannot possibly 
admit it as more than a pleasant fiction, except with its eyes 
shut and reason in chains. Nor is there any occasion to ad- 
mit it as more ; the question easily comes up, Who made the 
world, by what means he made it, how long he was about it, 
in what order he made its different parts ; and this is the first 
recorded answer to these questions. It is such a scheme of 
the creation as man could imagine in that infancy of science, 
but with the lights we now have, could never have been 
thought of as having sufficient probability for fiction. 

12. The second day gives us the firmament, an expanse set 
up and sustained, and made strong over us, receiving the 
name of stereoma in Greek, and firmament in Latin and Eng- 
lish, from its supposed strength, which was sueh as to sus- 
tain superincumbent seas, and a superincumbent world, the 
habitation of gods. This was a vast structure in the esti- 
mation of the ancients, and the erection of it a work worthy 
of a god. The word is plural; it embraced not a single 
heaven, but several, and in process of time grew to seven, 
which towered one above another, and each superior one was 
more glorious than that below. Mohammed improves on the 
Hebrew doctrine, by developing seven heavens and giving a 
specific character to each. With more simplicity, and in 
agreement with its older date, the Hebrew narrative teaches 
clearly but one, and leaves the question of others for future 
speculation and inquiry. 

13. This second day's work modern science has demol- 
ished, and not a timber or pin remains of the mighty fabric. 
The seat of gods, the supporter of celestial seas and heavenly 
fields, and with the first Christians the home of their pious 
aspirations and final hopes, is all gone ; it has melted into 
thin air, and vanished forever from sight. The ancient seers 

4 



38 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VI. 

had visions of the passing away both of the earth and heav- 
ens, all but the throne of God ; and, strange to tell, in respect 
to the heavens these visions are fully realized, but not with 
the noise and agitation which the seers imagined. No voice 
was heard, no awful portents or signs appeared ; but there 
was silence, and night passed by, and the sun of modern 
science rose, calm and still, with its glad morning, and all was 
gone ; one entire day's work of God disappeared ; one sixth 
part of creation vanished. 

14. But how resolutely man clings to the idols of his heart! 
The firmament, the entire material heavens of the ancients 
have been missing for several centuries, and leave not a trace 
in the sky ; the air is not more unmarked by an eagle's flight, 
or the sea by a ship's path, which closes up and heals with- 
out a scar ; but men find them in their sacred books, the 
charts .of the skies as the seers of the past beheld them, and 
will not be convinced that the vision has fled ; invisible 
though it be, they flatter themselves that the grand old struc- 
ture is still there. We might be amused with this delusion 
if it were harmless ; but it is not. A neglect to harmonize 
our faiths, brings the spiritual into disastrous collisions with 
the material, and confounds reason at every step, till many, by 
an amazing absurdity, discard it altogether from the depart- 
ment of religious inquiry, as though we had some higher capa- 
city by which to apprehend truths, or could receive them by 
the exercise of some higher faculty. A man might discard his 
eyes, and investigate truth by the touch, hearing, and other 
senses ; all are instruments of reason, and points of its con- 
tact with the material world ; and as long as one sense 
remains, the connection is not completely broken ; but to 
abjure reason in religious inquiry is like the abjuration of all 
the senses, and cuts us off from any possibility of knowledge. 

15. The third day's work is the gathering of the waters 
into seas, and the production of the whole vegetable king- 
dom, before an animal is made. Modern science and God's 



CHAP. VI. BIBLICAL THEGKIES. 39 

book of nature disagree with this in two particulars ; they 
tell us, 1. That God did not make the whole vegetable king- 
dom in a day, but that he was countless ages in making it ; 
and that he has brought it forward by imperceptible changes 
from small and simple beginnings, to its present complicated 
and diversified forms. 2. They tell us that the vegetable and 
animal kingdoms were brought along together, and were con- 
temporaneous from the beginning. These two theories can- 
not be harmonized ; one must be set aside. Some think they 
honor God by setting aside his own accurate account of the 
matter in the earth itself, and accepting this narrative as its 
true exposition ; and many more extend the days to vast peri- 
ods, and then accept the account as a scientific statement of 
the facts. But it is not a scientific statement of the facts, 
and cannot be made such, nor reconciled with them ; it is 
the conjectural theory of an early age, which God has been 
pleased to overthrow and supersede by a more profound and 
just view of the subject. It is a monument of the past. 

16. The fourth day, God set the sun and moon in the firma- 
ment for lights. The account takes no notice of their char- 
acter as worlds ; it only views them as lamps, hung up or set 
up under the sky to illuminate the earth. The incorrectness 
of this supposition is manifest from the consideration that 
the vegetable kingdom was made on the previous day ; that 
is, before the sun. We now come to the creation of the ani- 
mal kingdom, which is divided up, and only a part of it cre- 
ated on the fifth day — aquatic animals and birds. Why the 
precedence is given to them does not appear ; science gives 
no such precedence to aquatic animal life ; the sea and air 
began to be populated early, but not largely, if at all, before 
the earth. 

17. On the sixth day God finished creating the animal 
kingdom, by producing wild beasts, cattle, and reptiles, and 
apparently near the close of the day, man, whom he made 
of two sexes. This is not peculiar to man, however ; the 



40 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VI. 

same distinction is carried through the animal and vegetable 
kingdoms ; nearly all things that live are made male and fe- 
male. The law is nearly universal. The image of God is to 
be taken literally. God was supposed by the ancients to be of 
the human form, and to have honored man with a figure like 
his own. 

18. Great and glorious beings of all degrees of dignity and 
elevation, and in different worlds, may have the human form; 
or we may have their form, by w r hatever name they are called; 
we may call them gods, but the author of the universe cannot 
be conceived of as having form or limitation of his being. He 
that exists in all things and every where, and fills infinite 
space full, is as much and as necessarily without form as 
infinite space. 

19. Man's dominion grows out of his superiority to other 
beings ; throughout the entire animal kingdom the superior 
species rules, and subjects the lower to its will ; man follows 
the general law ; it is a natural law, and requires no miracu- 
lous revelation. 

20. On the seventh day God rested from his work and hal- 
lowed the day. The institution of the Sabbath is here 
referred to God ; it is one of the most beneficent of all posi- 
tive institutions, and seems to deserve such authorship ; but 
this document has no authentication which entitles it to credit 
as a narrative of facts, and its doctrine of the oreation of 
light on the first day, before the sun, its creation of the firma- 
ment on the second day, its creation of the entire vegetable 
kingdom on the third day, while the earliest creation of ani- 
mals is deferred to the fifth day, and otjaer features of the 
account, show that it must be taken as a fiction, and not as 
a narrative of facts. This being the character of the narra- 
tive, its ascription of the institution of the Sabbath to God 
is not reliable. May not the Sabbath be a human institu- 
tion ? And is it really any less valuable on the supposition 
that it is, than on the other supposition ? I think not. The 



CHAP. VI. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 41 

Sabbath is connected with the division of time into weeks. Is 
there a natural foundation for the division of time into weeks ? 
There is. The first astronomical grouping of days is by moons 
or months ; from moons we derive half moons, and quarter 
moons, just as from dollars we obtain half dollars and quar- 
ter dollars. A half moon, being fourteen days, would natu- 
rally be less used than the quarter moon of seven days ; so 
that for practical purposes, the natural divisions of time are 
days, quarter moons or weeks, half moons or fortnights, 
months, and years. The most useful of these, after days, 
is the division of quarter moons, on account of its moderate 
length. For many purposes it is a great convenience to have 
time divided up into small portions. We find the same con- 
veniences in respect to money. Quarter dollars are used 
incessantly. 

21. The first notice of the Sabbath after this refers to it 
as a day of rest, and a holy day, at the time of the exodus, 
B. C. 1491, A. M. 2513. The early Egyptians were great 
oppressors ; this is obvious from their Pyramids, and other 
monuments, many of which are works of incalculable labor, 
and such as could never have been voluntary. The Hebrews 
were for a time their slaves ; in earlier ages they must have 
employed vast numbers of slaves on their works. But be- 
sides being a nation of oppressors, they were religious and 
superstitious, both of which are not uncongenial with oppres- 
sion. No trace appears of the Sabbath in the history of the 
Hebrews for 2513 years, till the exodus. I conclude, there- 
fore, that the Sabbath is an Egyptian institution, and may 
have been introduced originally as a holiday, or day of rest, 
for their slaves. The objection to this is, that it is too good, 
too beneficent, and too worthy to have come from God, to 
allow of such a supposition. It certainly is most beneficent, 
and most worthy to have come from God, and it does come 
from God, by whatever means it is obtained, and is doubtless 
given by him. Whatever is beneficent and useful is from 



42 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VI. 

• 

God ; all good is from him, through whatever agencies it is 
received. God is becoming somewhat known, and is not 
at all private about his methods ; they are capable of being 
determined by observation, like the methods of other agents. 
It is God's usual method to give us benefits by his agents, 
and sometimes even by malicious and selfish agents. Here . 
is the institution of days directly from God, but given us 
by his agents ; next comes that of moons or months, half 
months, and quarter months or weeks ; weeks are as much 
given us by months as quarter dollars are by dollars ; all these 
are given naturally, but are not the less from God. 

22. Having obtained the division of weeks, it now becomes 
a question whether the appropriation of one of the seven 
days as a day of rest from labor, by a general rule, is too 
great a stride, in beneficial arrangement for the physical and 
intellectual well-being of the race, to be taken by man in the 
exercise of his natural wisdom and invention. If it is, we 
must call in a higher agency ; but even then, would it not be 
as easy and as conformable to other known methods of God, 
for him to suggest the institution to the mind of some benev- 
olent and earnest thinker and seeker after good, as to make i1 
a matter of formal and miraculous communication ? God does 
nothing in vain, and is not fond of display. 

23. I conclude, therefore, 1. That the Sabbath may be of 
human origin ; 2. That if it is, its divine sanction is not at 
all impaired by the discovery of that fact, any more than the 
sanction of the still higher laws of justice, mercy, and faith 
are impaired by the fact that they are discovered naturally, 
and do not depend for their authority on verbal and express 
commands of God. What is necessary for the good of the 
race, and what tends to exalt its character and promote its 
happiness, is equally a part of God's law, whether enjoined 
directly by him or not. Express commands add nothing to 
the sanction of moral obligations ; that obligation depends 
on eternal laws, on the constitution of beings, making them 



CHAP. VI. BIBLICAL THEOEIES* 43 

capable of happiness from certain things, and capable of mis- 
ery from certain other things ; and ultimately on God. The 
inevitable consequences of actions are the sanctions of di- 
vine law punishing and rewarding. We thus find the sanc- 
tions of the Sabbath unimpaired, and no injury done to the 
practical principles of Christian morality, by abandoning the 
first Hebrew document of the history of the creation as a 
narrative of facts, and accepting it only as a fiction, a hy- 
pothesis invented to satisfy human curiosity on the subject, 
till the race should come up to such a point of improvement 
as to be able to solve the problem of creation more fully. 
That higher improvement is at length fully reached, and the 
problem of creation is to some extent within the grasp of the 
human mind. This more imperfect solution, therefore, is no 
longer necessary, except as a monument of the past, showing 
us where the race has been, and how little it was able to 
comprehend the conditions of the problem of creation when 
it first undertook to resolve it. 

24. The lessons of this narrative are numerous and im- 
portant ; but perhaps its highest lesson is the illustration 
which it affords of the folly and presumption of undertaking 
to judge of God and his doings a priori. Such a mode of 
judging requires vastly more intelligence than is imparted to 
mortals. As far as God is pleased to show his hand and 
indicate his methods, we can perceive them ; but beyond this 
we cannot take the first step. 

25. The misapplication of industry in all the learned works 
of the age which are designed to explain Geology in agree- 
ment with this narrative is quite manifest. All such labors 
proceed on a false assumption, and sow the wind. What 
can be gathered from such sowing but ignorance, delusion, 
imbecility, and confusion worse confounded ? The mind, 
confronted with absurdities, loses its native power to judge 
of truth, and becomes a dupe in many cases of fanciful the- 
ories in religion and philosophy that a well-taught child would 
reject. 



44 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VI. 

26. The reasoning powers cannot be abused with, impunity ; 
any fundamental misdirection of them, in any department of 
inquiry, impairs their integrity and ability for other uses, till, 
overwhelmed by sophistries, the mind loses its capacity to 
soar, and, like the proud eagle with broken wing and entan- 
gled foot, is the easy prey of any serpent error that assails it. 

27. The style of this narrative in representing God as hav-^ 
ing created the world by a series of words deserves to be 
noted, and ought to have been sufficient to open the eyes of 
all sober scholars to the fictitious character of the piece. 
This, of course, is not to be understood literally ; if the infi- 
nite has organs of speech disposed through infinite space, or 
if there is a medium capable of carrying a voice from him 
every where, it is not to be supposed for a moment that such 
a voice would be a suitable agency to effect an act of crea- 
tion by ; a voice is addressed to intelligent beings, not to the 
unintelligent. This conception of creation by a word betrays 
not only a human origin of the piece, but an origin in super- 
stition. The ancient Magi pretended to do great things by 
words, and from them, in this allegory, the magic mode of 
wonder-workiug is transferred to the creator of the world, 
and he is represented as performing his work and building 
his castles by magic, like a great magician. We can accept 
this as a fiction, and acknowledge a sublimity and beauty in 
it ; as a narrative of facts it is absurd and ridiculous. 

28. One other question remains : What is the object and 
design of this fiction ? Is it an imposition ? By no means ; 
it has every appearance of being an honest fiction ; it exhib- 
its no more indications of an intention to deceive than Pil- 
grim's Progress or Homer's Iliad. What, then, is its object, 
its honest and true purpose ? Is it a historical allegory ? Not 
at all ; it gives us no historical fact whatever ; it tells us of 
no great event in the history of the race. What, then, is it ? 
It is a moral and philosophical allegory, designed to make the 
doctrine of the architectural creation of the world easily con- 



CHAP. VII. BIBLICAL THE0EIES. . 45 

ceivable according to the analogy of human labors, and to 
commend the Sabbath. The moral character of the piece 
indicates that it is not one of the earliest traditions of the 
race, but is probably of Egyptian, and certainly of post- 
Abrahamic origin. Abraham had no Sabbath. Its position 
as the first of the Hebrew documents is not in conformity 
with its age ; the tradition narrated in the next document 
appears to be vastly older — older by thousands of years. 
Through misapprehension, this allegory has done much harm 
in hindering the progress of just and honorable views of the 
creator's architectural works ; correctly interpreted, it becomes 
both harmless and useful. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Hebrew Tradition 2 ; Creation of the World, and the Early 
History of the Human Race. 

1 . These are accounts of the heavens and the earth, when 
they were created, in the day that Jeva of gods made the 
earth and heavens, and every shrub of the field before it was 
in the earth, and every plant of the field before it grew. For 
Jeva of gods did not rain on the earth [previously], and man 
was not [there] to till the ground ; but a cloud went up from 
the earth and watered all the surface of the ground ; and Jeva 
of gods formed Adam [the man] of dust of the ground, and 
breathed in his nostrils a breath of life, and Adam became 
a living soul. 2 : 4-7. 

2. And Jeva of gods planted a park [forest] in Eden of 
the east, and set there the man [Adam] whom he had formed ; 
and Jeva of gods caused to grow out of the ground every 
tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food ; and a 
tree of life was in the middle of the forest, and a tree of 
knowledge of right and wrong. And a river went out from 
Eden to water the forest, and thence it was divided and be- 
came four principal rivers [of the world]. The name of the 



46 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VII. 

first was Phishon [Ganges] ; this surrounds all the land of 
the Havilah [India], where there is gold ; and the gold of 
that land is good ; there [also] is the pearl and onyx stone. 
And the name of the second river is Gihon [the Indus], which 
surrounds all the land of [eastern] Cush ; and the name of 
the third river is Hidekel [the Tigris], which flows east of 
Assyria; and the fourth river is Pherath [the Euphrates]. 
And Jeva of gods took Adam and set him down in the for- 
est of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And Jeva of gods 
commanded Adam, saying, Of every tree of the forest eat 
freely ; but of the tree of knowledge of right and wrong eat 
not, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die. 8-17. 

3. And Jeva of gods said, It is not good that Adam should 
be alone : I will make him a help suitable for him. And 
Jeva of gods formed every beast of the field, and every bird 
of the heavens, and brought [them] to Adam to see what he 
would call them ; and every name which Adam called a thing 
was its name. And Adam gave names to all cattle and 
[every] bird of the heavens, and every beast of the field ; 
but for Adam he found not a suitable help. Then Jeva of 
gods caused a sound sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept ; 
and he took the first of his ribs and closed up flesh under 
her ; and Jeva of gods built the rib which he took from 
Adam into a woman, and brought her to Adam. And Adam 
said, This now is a bone of my bones and a flesh of my flesh ; 
and she was called woman because she was taken from man. 
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother, but is 
joined [permanently] to his wife, because they are one flesh ; 
and both of them were naked, Adam and his wife, but had 
no shame. 18-25. 

4. And the serpent was the most cunning of every beast of 
the field which Jeva of gods made ; and he said to the wo- 
man, Is it true that God said, You shall not eat of every tree 
of the forest ? And the woman said to the serpent, We may 
eat of tree fruit of the forest, but of the fruit of the tree 



CHAP. VII. 



BIBLICAL THEOEIES. 47 



which is in the middle of the forest, God said, You shall not 
eat, nor touch, lest you die. Then the serpent said to the 
woman, You shall not surely die ; but God knows that the 
day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall 
be like gods, knowing right and wrong. Then the woman 
saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a desire 
for the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make wise, and 
she took of its fruit, and ate, and gave also to her husband 
with her, and he ate ; and the eyes of both of them were 
opened, and they knew that they were naked, and sewed fig 
leaves and made them belts. 3 : 1-7. 

5. Then they heard the voice of Jeva of gods walking in 
the forest in the cool of the day ; and Adam and his wife hid 
themselves from before Jeva of gods in the middle of a tree 
of the forest [by climbing it]. Then Jeva of gods called to 
Adam, and said to him, Where are you ? And he said, I 
heard your voice in the forest, and was afraid because I was 
naked, and I hid myself. Then he said, Who told you that 
you were naked ? have you eaten of the tree of which I com- 
manded you not to eat ? And Adam said, The woman whom 
you put with me, gave me of the tree, and I ate. Then Jeva 
of gods said to the woman, What is this which you have 
done ? And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I 
ate. Then Jeva of gods said to the serpent, Because you 
have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and every 
beast of the field ; and you shall go on your belly, and eat 
dust all the days of your life ; and I will put enmity between 
you and the woman, and between your posterity and her pos- 
terity ; and he shall crush your head, and you shall crush his 
heel. Then he said to the woman, I will greatly increase 
your pains and childbearing, and you shall bear sons with 
pain, and your desire shall be for your husband [to control], 
and he shall rule over you. Then he said to Adam, Because 
you have obeyed the voice of your wife, and eaten of the tree 
of which I commanded you, saying, Eat not, cursed is the 



48 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VII. 

ground on your account ; you shall eat with pain all the days 
of your life ; and thorn-bushes and thistles shall it grow for 
you, and you shall eat the grass [grain] of the field ; you 
shall eat bread [not fruits] by the sweat of your face, till you 
return to the ground, for you were taken from her ; for you 
were dust, and you shall turn to dust [again]. 8-19. 

6. Then Adam called the name of his wife Eve [Cheva], 
because she was the mother of every living [man]. And 
Jeva of gods made Adam and his wife coats of skin, and 
clothed them ; and .Jeva of gods said, Behold, Adam has 
become like one of us, to know right and wrong ; and now, 
lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, 
and live forever, — then Jeva of gods sent him forth from the 
forest of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken ; 
and he expelled Adam, and set in the east, over the forest of 
Eden, cherubs, and a flaming sword turning [every way], to 
guard the way to the tree of life. 20-24. 

This is an independent tradition, placed by the compiler 
as the second document in his collection. It differs from tra- 
dition 1 both in its subject and style ; and this diversity is 
so great as to indicate a different origin. In tradition 1, the 
formation of the world is a creation ; in 2, it is a making or 
formation. The Hebrew word for create, or creation, is not 
used except in the title, which is not a part of the tradition, 
and was probably not prefixed to it till the introduction of 
letters, when the narrative was reduced to writing. In tra- 
dition 1 , the creating is performed by words of command, in 
the manner of the Magi ; in 2, nothing of the kind appears ; 
in 1, the world is made and finished in six days, and God 
rests on the seventh day and hallows it ; in 2, no account is 
made of days. The creator in 1 is called Alohim, a word 
which signifies God, or gods, according to its connection ; in 
2, Jeva Alohim (Jeva of gods). Tradition 1 gives us no his- 
tory of the human race, except their creation as the last of 



CHAP. VII. BIBLICAL THEOEIES. . 49 

God's works ; tradition 2 gives us several important facts in 
their history, and places the creation of Adam before that of 
animals, and of Eve after them, with an interval of an indefi- 
nite length between, sufficient for Adam to give names to the 
whole animal kingdom, which must have taken him some 
years. Tradition 2 is not Egyptian, but Oriental and Ara- 
msean, and was probably brought from Chaldea by Abraham, 
carried to Egypt by Jacob, and back from Egypt to Palestine 
by his descendants. It could not have originated either in 
Palestine or Egypt ; neither would it be likely to have come 
from its more eastern birthplace to be admitted among the 
sacred traditions of the Hebrews, unless it had been brought 
by Abraham. 

The title Lord God of the common version admits of 
emendation ; it should be Jeva of gods. The Septuagint 
renders it Kvgiog 6 -freog (Kurios the god). The first of these 
terms is God's proper name ; the second his species ; he is a 
god, not a man, and his proper and generic names are both 
used together. "Why is this ? It implies that there was 
another Jeva, not of gods, from whom it was necessary to 
distinguish the Creator, — a Jeva of men. This other Jeva 
appears in the next tradition, and has been mistaken from an 
early period for the divine Jeva. 

This tradition consists of six verses. 

V. 1 relates the creation of Adam after the entire vege- 
table kingdom, but before the entire animal kingdom. Its 
theory of rain is the common theory, by clouds which ascend 
from the earth. This part of the narrative may be consid- 
ered a preface to the historical part which follows, and is 
purely theoretic. It is probably the addition of a late age, 
and its origin may not have been long prior to the invention 
of letters. The historical part of the narrative comes down 
from the earliest times. The allegorist tells us that rain only 
commenced just previous to the creation of Adam, when the 
vegetable kingdom was also made. In this the ancient the- 
5 



50 BIBLICAL THEOEIES. CHAP. VII. 

ory is at fault ; rain has accompanied the earth ever since it 
was so far condensed and cooled as to have a crust below 
boiling heat, and commenced long before the earth was fitted 
to be the abode of vegetable or animal life. It is one of the 
mighty instruments of dissolving its rocks, converting them 
to dust, and fitting them for organic use ; with it God has 
dissolved immense portions of the earth's primitive crust, and 
is still pursuing this work of solution as in the countless ages 
of the past. This tradition is eminently philosophical ; it is 
not contented with giving facts, but deals largely in reasons. 
It is not simple history, but philosophic history, — facts 
viewed in the light of philosophy. 

Tradition 1 makes God create man without telling us how 
he did it ; it gives the general fact. This tradition goes into 
particulars, and tells us how the work was done, what mate- 
rial was used, and by what methods man was made. The 
material was dust ; the method was that of a potter making 
a vessel of clay ; but there was no baking or burning ; it was 
not put through the furnace. By what means the clay was 
changed into vital organs does not appear ; the shaping is all 
that is thought of. But this does not complete the man ; 
Jeva breathes into his nostrils the breath of life, and imparts 
to him a portion of his own breath, and man becomes a liv- 
ing soul. "We cannot admire the depthfof this philosophy, 
but it has a plausibility and pictorial beauty which make it 
interesting. If the author of tradition 1 had gone into these 
particulars, he would be likely to have told us that Jeva said, 
Let man be fashioned of dust and brought into shape ; and 
when he saw that his shape was good, to have said again, Let 
him breathe, and have a living soul ; but according to his 
more general method, he probably made him complete by a 
single word, Let man be, though this is not said. 

V. 2. After creating man, Jeva provides a place for him. 
Where shall he put him ? what kind of accommodations does 
he require ? Fish require the sea, birds the air, and cattle 



CHAP. YII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 51 

the field ; some animals require the mountain, and some the 
plain ; some equatorial heat, and some polar snows : what 
accommodations does the first man require ? He requires a 
forest garden, a place planted with fruit trees and ornamen- 
tal shrubbery ; and Jeva supplies his need by planting a forest 
in the east expressly for him. Its precise locality is not de- 
scribed, but it was in the east, and this side of the Ganges, and 
the other side of the Euphrates ; we may suppose that it was 
in India. The Arabs have a tradition that Adam commenced 
his terrestrial career in Ceylon, and Eve hers near Mecca, in 
Arabia, and that they found some difficulty in getting together. 
It is not unlikely that Southern India is the earliest home of 
the Ada mi c race, and that Noah was an emigrant from that 
region to the high lands and colder climate on the Euphrates 
and Tigris. 

India abounds in fruit trees, which furnish various and 
valuable supplies of food, and by which human life might be 
sustained without any help from field or garden. The gar- 
den of Eden is not a garden for plant culture, but a forest 
for tree culture. Here history first finds Adam, the stock 
man of the race to which we belong, the progenitor of Noah, 
and through him of all the Western, Aramaean, North Afri- 
can, and European nations. It does not appear that he was 
the father of all the human races. History finds him alone, 
without a wife, living like a beast of the forest on forest 
fruits. Eve is not yet created, and her creation is not reached 
for an indefinite period. This implies that marriage was not 
yet instituted, and that the race was without permanent con- 
nections. Such is the natural meaning of this part of the 
allegory, and this is confirmed by an Arabic tradition that he 
was alone 200 years ; the real period was vastly longer. 

V. 3. The next step which the allegory gives us is the 
invention of language, and the commencement of natural 
science. Adam forms an acquaintance with the animals, and 
gives them names. Here are the rudiments of natural sci- 



52 BIBLICAL THEOEIES. CHAP, VII. 

ence and language, and of both the stock man is the author. 
He is also nearly omnivorous in respect to fruit, and especially 
tree fruit, eating what comes in his way ; he eats every thing 
eatable but the fruits of two remarkable trees, one of which 
is prohibited ; and his not getting hold of the other appears 
to have been accidental. He did not find it. Adam is a 
forest animal, living on the fruits of trees, and engaged in 
tree culture. In this first historical stage, the human race is 
without marriage, without agriculture, without horticulture, 
and without mechanic arts ; but two human arts were com- 
menced, which proved of great use to the race, and led to its 
further elevation; 1. Tree culture, and 2, spoken language, 
the use of sounds and articulations to denote things. Both 
of these arts began with Adam, the first stock man known 
to tradition ; where the race had been, and what it had been 
doing before this stage, we may guess, or accept the opinion 
of the traditionist if we think proper. Forests have existed 
from long before the formation of coal and its deposition in 
ancient mountain gorges and ravines, and from early periods 
they have swarmed with animals ; but the stock man in the 
forest of Eden is the first animal that claimed property in a 
tree, and put his hand on it as a culturist, to improve either 
its beauty or products. It was a new thing in the world 
when tree culture began, and showed the ancient forests that 
a new creature was abroad. Tree culture is still confined to 
man ; the forests have countless inhabitants, and diverse 
races, many of which live on their products ; but no race 
except man has ever intentionally set himself to the culture 
of a tree. How long this stage of human progress continued 
we are not informed ; but man is a pilgrim, and pursues his 
journey ; he is a soldier, and battles with his fate for higher 
and nobler destinies than are yet reached. After the inven- 
tion of language, and the attainment of some knowledge of 
the animal world, the stock man for the first time under- 
stands that he wants a wife : that his animal mode of life is 



CHAP. VII. BIBLICAX THEORIES. 53 

not the best, and does not meet his necessities, and those of 
his children. This part of the story is highly colored and 
enigmatic, as if the traditionists were ashamed of the naked 
facts, and wished to cover them up and conceal them entirely 
from the common eye, and yet not put them forever beyond 
the reach of the inquisitive. The selection of a wife is 
always a serious and often an anxious business, and one 
in which, of all others, man needs the help of his Maker ; 
and he comes to the assistance of the first stock man in a 
very peculiar manner. He gives him a wife from himself, and 
thereby commends her to his strongest love. Every true wife, 
according to this, is a man's first rib, taken from the top of 
his bosom and fashioned into a woman, and given back to 
him as his help, God-made, God-brought, and God-given, to 
be received piously, thankfully, and with love. With the 
first institution of marriage man becomes a race culturist; 
this is the third of the human arts, and places the race in a 
position to make still further and more rapid advancement. 
Up to this time the race had followed the instincts of nature 
only ; now its propagation becomes a matter of purpose and 
design, and the education and instruction of children begins 
to be attended to on scientific principles as one of the busi- 
nesses of life. 

The account of Eve's creation, though beautiful and ingen- 
ious as an allegory, and fraught with good moral lessons, is so 
puerile and ridiculous, considered as a literal fact, that it 
ought to have had a better fate than has hitherto been ac- 
corded to it. It cannot be admitted as a fact ; it is not only 
not in conformity with God's methods, but in contradiction 
of them. God has no need to take a bone out of a right 
hand to make a left, or out of a right side to make a left 
side, or out of one being to make another. He makes right 
hands and left, and right sides and left, and different sexes, 
simultaneously, and by similar means. Adam and Eve must 
be presumed to have had similar origins, and to have been 
5* 



54 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VII. 

made from similar materials in similar methods. This account 
is therefore an allegory, and not a literal fact. The lesson 
which it teaches is, that husbands should love their wives, 
and wives reverence their husbands and serve them. It is 
an oriental lesson, not Grecian nor Roman. It does not pre- 
suppose the Grecian nor Roman view of woman. The Gre- 
cian and Roman matrons were not their husbands' bones nor 
flesh, nor their servants, or handmaids ; but their equals and 
allies, associated with them, not for the convenience of the 
stronger and more athletic party, but for the common service 
of the state and of the gods, and for the reproduction and 
culture of the race in the most approved methods. Unfortu- 
nately for the Hebrews, their extreme conservatism, like that 
of many moderns, made improvement difficult ; and their 
early fathers having failed to comprehend the scheme of the 
great Father in respect to the character and offices of woman, 
they persisted in the error to the last ; and their sun went 
down under clouds of darkness and sorrow which better prin- 
ciples on this subject would have dispersed. More independ- 
ent women might have saved them. Christianity has not 
adopted the Hebrew theory of woman, and cannot adopt it ; 
it has been made, however, to profess to adopt it, and to sub- 
scribe to it as right. But it is not right, never was, and never 
will be ; neither is it harmless ; it has done infinite harm, 
both to woman and man ; and it is doing infinite harm, and 
will continue to do it till fully discarded. The prevalence of 
this theory is one of the great curses of Mohammedanism and 
the east, and one of the causes of Mohammedan decline. 
But there lies a great fact at the foundation of this allegory, 
and that is, the origin of marriage. Marriage stands 1 con- 
nected with race culture, and is one of its essential aids. 
Race improvement may go forward without being pursued 
as an end, as animals may improve their breeds in a wild 
state, and without design ; but its efficient and general pros- 
ecution as a permanent object of the race requires marriage, 



CHAP. VII. BIBLICAL THEOEIES. 55 

and is not possible without it ; and the allegorist gives us 
this great fact in human history, that men began at this time 
to take wives and be permanently associated with them. 

V. 4. The next step is the crisis of our destiny, and man, 
the sagacious animal, living on the fruit of trees, lord of the 
forest, cultivating his trees with reference to beauty and fruit, 
a creature of language, a creature of marriage and race cul- 
ture, advances another step, and becomes like gods, a moral 
agent, a creature of reason and morality. It does not appear 
that he was at this time a creature . of piety ; but morality 
was on the way to piety, and could not stop short of it. We 
shall find the rise of piety distinctly marked in the next tra- 
dition. The narrator is careful to tell us that the race were 
yet naked, and without shame, which is the general condition 
of the animal world, and marks the low stage of improve- 
ment yet reached. 

In this next step of the human race the married wife takes 
the lead, and demonstrates the vast utility of marriage ; the 
God-given help becomes a guide and leader, not a seducer, as 
is generally supposed, and conducts her husband and her race 
to the condition of the gods — knowing right and wrong ; 
here is the maternal teacher, but not the teacher only. Three 
historic eras are past : 1 . The era preceding the invention of 
language ; 2. The era of its invention ; 3. The era of the 
invention of marriage and commencement of race culture, 
all under the shade of the forest, and with no earth culture 
but that of forest trees ; but now man leaves the beast, and 
by one step more puts himself at an infinite distance from the 
whole brute creation. Can they ever overtake him ? Not 
unless they follow in his steps of progressive improvement ; 
his elevation has been gained by many steps of progress. 
But in the ages of eternity some of them may pursue after 
him ; and this wonder may enter into the counsels of the 
Eternal for aught that appears ; improvement is the law of 
all animal and vegetable races, and the path of improvement 



56 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VII. 

leads straight to the infinite, and finds no terminus this side 
of it. 

In this part of the narrative two things are to be noted. 

1 . The fact of the transition of the race from a state of non- 
moral agency to a state of moral agency ; and 2. The manner 
of the transition. (1.) The fact: This is stated so explicitly 
as to leave no lower assumption possible. Man, before the 
mighty change, did not know right and wrong ; after it he 
did : before, he was a naked beast ; after it he was a god. 
It is not said that he was like the Supreme ; 3 : 5, when the 
serpent says, God knows that in the day of your eating it 
your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like gods, know- 
ing right and wrong, the Alohim is plural. Here is a defi- 
nition of the primitive gods : they were moral beings, having 
a perception of right and wrong ; and this Alohim takes a 
plural adjective, giving the strongest indication possible of its 
plural number. Jeva's reference to the matter after the fact 
had transpired, is also polytheistic ; 3 : 22, Behold, Adam 
has become like one of us, to know right and wrong. 

(2.) The manner in which the race passed through this 
change was by the introduction and use of a new kind of 
food. An ample supply of wholesome and agreeable food is 
one of the most essential conditions both of all human and 
animal progress ; and the same law goes through the vegeta- 
ble world. Plants must have food, and with abundant and 
appropriate supplies are larger, of better texture, and bear 
finer fruits, than when in barren soils and on limited allow- 
ances. The first and most important business of the human 
race, is to look after its food, and provide it of a suitable 
character, and in ample amounts. Even the higher animals 
and insects do this, and make it a large part of the business 
of their lives. 

Why Eve found this food and gave it to Adam, and Adam 
did not find it and give it to Eve, is not said ; but it may be 
guessed. The race had not got up to civilization ;' civiliza- 



CHAP. VII. BIBLICAL TIIEOBIES. 57 

tion was yet unborn ; it was waiting to be the birth of a 
then future and distant age, and the sons of the gods were 
waiting for it. In all low stages of civilization, and in the 
savage state, woman is the servant of man, and his drudge, 
and is obliged to provide much of his food, as well as to pre- 
pare it for his use. It is not unlikely, therefore, that in this 
primeval state of the Adamic race, Eve was allowed to make 
herself useful, by gathering and laying up the forest fruits for 
the support of the family. And if she hunted the forest, with 
a sharp eye, for known fruits, it would not be strange if the 
kind Father should pity her, and lighten her task sometimes 
by leading her both to new trees laden with known fruits, 
and introducing to her notice new varieties of fruits. Valu- 
able discoveries must have been made from time to time in 
this line, and valuable acquisitions gained. What trees Adam 
had, by which he lived at the time of his marriage, We are 
not informed ; but we have a right to presume that he had 
the best which the forests of India afforded ; and though the 
other animals shared with him, his would naturally be more 
than a lion's share. But Eve discovers a more precious fruit 
than Adam had ever yet tried ; it is new and strange, and she 
is afraid of it ; perhaps it is a poison, and will do her harm ; 
perhaps it is a deadly and speedy poison, and will kill her on 
the day she eats it ; she is a prudent woman, and does not 
venture to make trial of it at sight. All symbols demand a 
natural and easy interpretation, and all enigmas demand the 
easiest possible solution. This story is symbolical and enig- 
matic ; a great transaction in the early history of the race is 
committed to its symbols ; but they have a voice, and can 
speak ; let them say their saying, and give up their trust if 
they will. The true art of interpretation is to let things in- 
terpret themselves ; they can tell their own story when other s 
will guess it with difficulty. 

The serpent, like the man, in this narrative, means the ser- 
pent race, as represented by one or more ; and this cunning 



58 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VII. 

but despised race carries on a dialogue with Eve, and gives her 
a lesson in favor of the yet untried food. Animals still talk in 
reason's ear, and teach us many valuable lessons. Balaam's 
ass is not alone in reproving his master for cruelty ; every 
animal race joins in the complaint with its Balaams, and at 
the same time every animal race comes to us with lessons of 
love and kindness, and suggestions for the improvement of 
our condition. God selected the serpent to instruct Eve about 
the new food, perhaps purposely ; the serpent also is a son 
of God, and may yet be redeemed. How the serpent per- 
formed his part, we are not told, and are therefore authorized 
to conclude that he did it in the natural way, in which all 
animals teach such lessons, by eating the food himself. Ser- 
pents are sufficiently intelligent to be tamed and domesticated, 
and to wait on a mistress like a dog, and take food from her 
hands. Eve perhaps had a pet of this kind on which she 
may purposely have tried the new food, or who may have 
tried it in her presence, without any leave asked of her, as a 
cat seizes a mouse without waiting for permission. The ser- 
pent satisfied her that the food was harmless and beneficial ; 
perhaps he grew fat on it, and Eve added it to her stores, 
set it on her tables, and ate it, and gave it to her husband, 
and the serpent's augury was fully accomplished. It was not 
a slow poison, killing after many days, nor a speedy poison, 
killing on the day it was used ; it was an aliment of the rea- 
soning powers, and raised the race to a higher elevation than 
had before been gained. The soul as well as the .body 
thrived on it. 

The new food was certainly a mighty good, and so the alle- 
gory represents it ; but as often happens, it has two sides : 
on one side it is a morning sun shedding light on the world 
and bringing day ; on the other it is midnight darkness : it 
makes man a God, and it also makes him a demon ; it gives 
him a seat among the blessed, and it also sends him down to 
hades. And this is all true of the new gift ; reason duly 



CHAP. YH. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 59 

improved exalts the race and benefits it infinitely, but mis- 
improved degrades it, and depresses it infinitely. The alle- 
gorist may not have been fully master of his subject ; there 
are objects which are hard to paint, and art stands bafiied 
to-day with the sun ; but this painter gives to the canvas 
gleams and flashes of light that need not be mistaken. The 
great gift of reason, considered as the subject of moral agency, 
is here on the canvas, and is capable of being fully identi- 
fied ; seldom was a mighty object better drawn, or a historical 
picture more intelligible. The divine gift of reason comes, 
and moral agency is attained ; and this is conditioned, as it 
ought to be, on food — the first demand of the race. 

Famine is one of the blights of all uncivilized races, and 
one of the destroyers and wasters of the little improvement 
possible in uncivilized life ; with an ample supply and good 
quality of food, man grows like a plant ; without it, he 
withers and dies, and leaves his house desolate. 

\Yith the divine gift of reason comes another change : man 
becomes disgusted with his nakedness, and puts on a covering, 
not merely as a protection from the cold and heat, but from 
the eye ; he cannot look on his neighbor's nakedness with 
pleasure, nor expose his person to his neighbor's view. A 
state of nudity becomes not only disagreeable, but intoler- 
able ; it cannot be persisted in ; it is attended with incon- 
veniences that cannot be endured. Xow, for the first time 
since the terrestrial creation began, an earthly creature of 
God gets beyond the care of his Maker in respect to cloth- 
ing, and is obliged to take care of himself. The lazy savage 
thinks this a curse, and wonders why the Great Spirit did 
not give him a covering adequate to all his exigencies. The 
man of high culture does not wonder ; he sees the reason at a 
glance, and is satisfied. The allegorist tells us that the first 
artificial clothing of the race was leaves — an article that is 
still in use ; but it was impossible to stop with leaves ; other 
inventions soon followed to supply the new want ; and not 






60 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VII. 

content to satisfy a need, the race achieved over its want a 
victory and triumph, and made clothing an ornament and 
luxury. What this new fruit was, by the use of which reason 
was gained, we are not told ; some have ventured to suppose 
it was the apple, a valuable fruit certainly, but not the most 
valuable, nor tropical. Eden seems to have been in a tropical 
climate, but it may have extended into the temperate zone ; 
it probably did. Man in his state of nudity could not have 
departed far from the tropics. Some have supposed that the 
fruit in question was the fig. This is a noble fruit; but the 
more probable opinion is, that it was wheat and the other 
cereal grains, and that they are represented by a tree, because, 
that having been the great fruit-bearer of the race, any other 
fruit-bearer would for a time be likely to receive the same 
title, and be called a tree. The cereal grains belong to the 
family of grasses, and they and the other grasses have been 
the main supports of the human race ever since civilization 
began. If they should all be withdrawn by the Creator, it 
would effect well nigh the destruction of the race, and of a 
large part of the animal kingdom. It is not without reason 
that the cereals are supposed to be the fruit in question. 
Greek tradition comes to the help of the Hebrews on this 
subject, and confirms the cereal theory, by making Ceres a 
goddess, the giver of the cereal grains to men. The Greek 
Ceres seems to be the Hebrew Eve of this allegory. Since 
the discovery of these grains, man has lived chiefly by bread, 
and domestic animals by the stalks of these and other 
grasses. 

V. 5. Now comes the reckoning. Adam aspires to a place 
among the gods, and is far started on the way. He has become 
like them in morality, and got hold of eternal moral laws. "Will 
he be tolerated ? Will he be allowed to go still farther, and 
seize immortality too ? Courage and hope say, Yes ; but fear, 
and distrust, and ignorance of God's magnanimity and mercy 
say, No ; and unfortunately the ancient allegorist reports this 



CHAP. VII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 61 

portion of his oracle from distrust and fear, and belies both 
his Maker and- his race. 

Adam and Eve hear the voice of Jeva in their forest, in the 
cool of the day, — the time favorable for reflection, — and are 
afraid, and hide. In their stages of animalism they knew no 
such fear ; this is the first historical trace of the fear of Jeva, 
if it is historical, and it probably refers to him not as Jeva, 
the familiar being of after years, but the then great unknown, 
who was the more fearful from the darkness which surrounded 
him. 

God is a great accountant, and both a generous and mer- 
ciful donor, and an exacting, relentless • collector of dues ; he 
gives millions, but will not be robbed of a cent. No sooner 
do Adam and Eve become moral agents than they are made 
to feel their accountability to a higher power. Their now 
godlike condition is one of many joys, but it is also one of 
many sorrows ; and it seems at times as if the gods were after 
them with a whip of scorpions. The Great Spirit is angry ; 
what is the mischief that man has done ? Job is afflicted ; 
what is his crime ? 

Let us divide this portion of the narrative into two parts : 
the essential facts in man's experience after the attainment 
of reason and moral agency, and the traditionary explanation 
of them. 

1 . Man leaves the forest, and the little tree culture that he 
practised in its shade, and goes to raising grains and other 
grasses in open fields, fields naturally open, like the prairies 
of the west, or such as he has opened and cleared. Thorn- 
bushes and thistles make him much trouble, and occasion 
him much* labor ; of all the animals in the world, he hates 
serpents the most, and exterminates them from his fields. 

In the improved modes of living, Eve is more prolific than 
before, and has a hard task with her children ; her sorrows 
are still further increased by a growing delicacy of constitu- 
tion in proportion as her culture advances, and her oriental 
6 



62 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VII. 

husband, generally her master, is sometimes her tyrant, and 
rules her with a heavy and cruel hand. From -this complica- 
tion of evils the problem of man's higher agency as a crea- 
ture of reason and morality proves too great for the young 
philosophy of the race, and confounds it. Verse 4 contains 
an account of the earliest attempted solution of this great 
problem. Reason is a brave soldier ; he never turns his back 
on a foe : the moment he met this problem he grappled with 
it, and came out of the fight, and sat down to rest himself in 
the shade of an ancient pine, supposing that his victory was 
gained ; and this is his monument ; here sits the soldier under 
his pine to-day. It has been a shrine for ages, and weary 
pilgrims have come from all nations and worshipped before it. 
But the supposed victory was only a preliminary skirmish, in 
which reason was defeated, and jmt in chains ; and there she 
sits a prisoner in chains under the ancient pine till to-day, 
abiding her time both to regain her lost liberty, and renew 
the fight, and push it to a real victory. 

The old solution of the question of the reason of man's 
ills runs thus : — 

1 . You ought to have been content to be an animal, and 
not have aspired to a place among the gods ; wisdom is 
conservative. God told you to be humble, and stay with the 
brutes ; your departure from them is an invasion of his pre- 
rogatives, and he is angry with you. 

2. The serpent's miseries are the punishment of his fault 
in that great transaction by which he led Eve to use the cereal 
grains, and he must bear it forever, so implacable is the re- 
sentment of the gods. 

3. Eve's great sufferings in childbearing, her "increased 
fruitfulness, and her servile and often oppressed condition as 
an oriental wife, are her punishment as being first in this 
mortal sin. 

4. Adam expiates his sin by a life of labor instead of a 
life of indolence and ease in his native bowers, and the ground 



CHAP. VII. BIBLICAL THEORIES 63 

pesters and vexes him with its thorn-bushes and thistles, in 
retaliation for his great offence. 

The sins incident to a state of reason and moral agency 
often produce sickness and death, in cases where animals 
escape with impunity, as they are without fault ; and this 
hurrying of the tardy step of death easily grows under the 
eye of the allegorist to occupy the whole field, and becomes 
the sole cause of man's dissolution. Reason abused kills 
many, and by a common mistake reason absolute and un- 
abused is made destructive. Hence the picture of man's rise 
to reason as being the cause of human mortality. That such 
an element should go into the picture is not strange, but that 
it should pass under the eye of ages, unquestioned and unex- 
plained, in accordance with facts, may well excite wonder ; 
and it is high time that the mistake was stopped, and God 
and man disabused. 

The form and method of the divine judgment are too mani- 
festly fictitious to be misunderstood by one who has the first 
just idea of the true nature of the transaction. God finds men 
in their hiding places, and calls them out, and brings them to 
account for tneir misdoings, but not by the use of human 
voices and articulations ; and when men undertake to inter- 
pret his judgments, they sometimes make great mistakes, 
and visit on the heads of his Jobs, in their trials, maledictions 
which ought to fall elsewhere. Human ignorance and super- 
stition have in all ages painted God as wrathful and malig- 
nant, quick to be angry, and hard to appease ; the gospel of 
divine peace and good will to men, is the latest of all the 
gospels, and most reluctantly admitted. 

This early solution of the problem of human sins and 
afflictions does justice neither to God nor man, and has too 
long been accepted as final ; the increased light and the 
higher development of the reasoning powers in modern times, 
create a demand for its reconsideration, and furnish condi- 
tions for a different and better solution. 



64 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VII. 

The entire misapprehension of this narrative, making the 
serpent signify Satan, and his suggestions a temptation to 
sin, and the acceptance of the transaction as a great crime 
and transgression of divine law, according to the limited and 
erroneous views of the allegorist, instead of rising to a just 
and reasonable conception of it, as a great act of virtue in 
conformity with divine law, has done immense harm to Chris- 
tendom and to the human race. The grandest step of prog- 
ress in the history of the race, has been stigmatized as its 
foulest blot, and the source of all subsequent evils ; coming 
up, with labor and iron determination, from the condition of 
a beast, has been regarded as an ignominious and disastrous 
fall from the happy state of gods. Among man's miraculous 
mistakes, this certainly deserves a place. Unfortunately, it is 
not solitary ; there are too many of the kind. Man has vast 
powers of knowledge, and walks like a god through the 
heavens, stepping from star to star and from system to sys- 
tem, till he leaves the light behind, and loses its company in 
the distance ; and yet the providence of God confounds him 
at every step, and the tombs of his remote ancestors become 
the temples of his worship and the prisons of his thought, 
and he spends ages in picking old bones which his fathers 
picked before him and left bare, when he ought to give them 
to the earth, and partake of the Creator's feast. They were 
never nutritive or wholesome, and, with the progress of reason 
and the advancement of science, are less so than formerly. 
They are not fit for the crows. 

V. 6. We now come to the close of this remarkable tradi- 
tion. Adam calls his wife Eve [Cheva] on account of her 
increased fruitfulness ; her name before had been simply 
woman. Jeva makes Adam and Eve coats of skins : here is 
the invention of tanning, — one of the arts/ — and the origin 
of the use of skins for human clothing. This is the next stage 
of the race, after reaching that dignity of reason and delicacy 
of sentiment that require clothing for concealment and for 



CHAP. VII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. . 65 

ornament. And now Jeva sends Adam and Eve forth from 
their native forest to be cultivators of the. field and live on 
their newly-discovered cereal grains. Civilization is not yet 
reached, but the race is on the way to it, and will have it 
soon ; agerization comes first. 

The leaving of their forest is a grand old picture, and hangs 
with few rivals in the chambers of art among the productions 
of the old masters. According to the common view it is very 
sad, according to the fact it is very glad, and yet not without 
sadness too, and is an occasion full of interest, and replete 
with sublime emotion of various kinds. The forest is well 
called a garden of God, a garden of his planting and culture, 
and a place where he walks in the cool of the day and refreshes 
an immortal nature. It has all the elements of grandeur and 
beauty, and is a vast museum of wonders. 

God did not send Adam forth from the forest ; he led him 
forth with a kind and gentle hand, well pleased with the 
progress of his little son ; still less did he send him forth in 
anger ; he led him forth in love to a higher blessedness and 
greater glory than the grand old forest could afford. He leads 
him still, with kind and loving hands, and although the ways 
are in some cases rough and the ascending steps taken and 
held with difficulty, God's leadings are all to the higher, 
nobler, grander, and better. He is not displeased with our 
efforts to rise, but gives us a helping hand and leads us on. 

Along with this mystery of the tree of science and moral- 
ity, the old masters caught a glimpse of another tree, of still 
fairer fruit and greater promise — the tree of immortality. 
Perhaps some later Eve will one day give us this. As man 
leaves the beast and rises towards his God in reason, may he 
not by some still more brilliant invention attain also the 
divine state and virtue of immortality. This great question 
opened itself to the ancient reason of the race, and she said, 
Yes, it must be so ; there is a tree of morality, there must 
be a tree of immortality ; but God is jealous and angry, and 
6* 






66 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. Til. 

has hid it ; he guards it with flaming chariot and sword, 
and we cannot reach it, — we must be content to die. He is 
angry at us for our reason ; he meant to keep us brutes for- 
ever, and to have us for cattle ; and not having seized the 
gift of immortality when we did that of reason, it is now too 
late, and we have lost it forever. 

We wonder at the shortcomings of this ancient argument, 
when we subject it to a thorough analysis : why could not 
the mind better appreciate the Eternal ? But we may wonder 
much more at modern stupidity in accepting old errors. 
Reason was then young, and but indifferently schooled, and 
the Eternal was but faintly apprehended ; men saw the sun 
like a great lamp hung under a spacious ceiling, to light a 
few thousand revellers for an evening ; they had no concep- 
tion of its real dimensions, or of the magnitude and variety 
of its offices. They saw God on the same diminutive scale, 
and apprehended but a little part of him — a hand, an eye, an 
ear, and those not much unlike the corresponding organs of 
men. They allowed him messengers and servants, and set 
him up a chariot, to ride about in ; they gave him seats and 
dwellings, and made him often angry ; they knew no better. 
But ages have passed on, and God has shown himself more 
fully and more truly to the reason of his creatures, and claims 
a proportionably higher adoration. 

Such is an outline of the interpretation of this ancient and 
beautiful allegory. It is commended to the attention of 
Christendom in the hope that it will put inquiry on a better 
track than it has generally followed heretofore, and in its 
results help to relieve Christianity from some unfortunate 
blunders which both impair its beauty and power, and hinder 
its triumphs. It contains a development of the laws of the 
Creator and an augury of the future destinies of the human 
race, and other races ; and conditions a theory on the subject, 
applicable to all worlds, and giving them all conceivable 



CHAP. VII. BIBLICAX THEOEIES. 67 

orders of rational beings, from the Infinite down. This is its 
highest value, and its great lesson, towering heaven high above 
its other teachings. The Greek myth concerning Ceres is 
the Greek edition of a portion of this allegory ; Ceres the 
goddess is the Hebrew Eve, her daughter Proserpine is the 
precious cereal grains which Eve has collected. Pluto with 
his chariot coming up from hades and stealing Proserpine 
from flower-picking, represents the farmer with his two-horse 
plough and drag taking the precious grain after he has picked 
the flowers off, and putting it under the earth ; all under the 
surface belonged to Pluto. Proserpine being obliged to spend 
one third of every year with the god of hades, as his wife, 
represents the grain as requiring a third part of the year from 
the time it is committed to the earth, before it gets back 
again in the ripened grain of the harvest field, and renews its 
acquaintance with mother Eve. Many other curious analogies 
grace the Greek myth. The Greeks give Ceres much trouble 
about her grain, and make heaven and earth sympathize with 
her, and serve her as well as they can in the search for it, 
between the time of its germination and completed reproduc- 
tion. The daughter disappears during that interval, and the 
earth was searched through with a lamp without finding her. 
The sun himself could only say that he saw her caught with 
her flowers in hand and taken below. But when she reap- 
peared there was great rejoicing ; the sun exulted, the earth 
was glad ; the joy of harvest is proverbial. 

As moral agency conditions holiness and sin, a few words 
on that subject seem to be called for. 

Holiness and sin may be represented by quantity. Holi- 
ness is rectilinear, and all its lines parallel, and it goes straight 
through the universe from end to end, or, more truly, from 
infinite to infinite ; it measures the whole from side to side 
in all directions, and its lines are highways of peaceful and 
happy travel for all God's moral agents. Sin consists of 
irregular lines, not straight lines, not regular curves, but 



68 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VII. 

lines varying right and left, up and down, back and forward, 
and leading into awful gulfs and morasses, and over lakes and 
seas of fire, and pits and abysses without bottom and with- 
out limit. God walks the straight lines, and instructs his 
rational creatures to do the same ; Satan is reported to walk 
the crooked ones. Satan is a mighty shadow, and on being 
pushed to the wall may some day prove fictitious. There are 
elements in his character which have mighty allegoric mean- 
ings, but no substance ; and when the time comes to put him 
in chains and send him to hades, to stay there, it is believed 
that the task will be found quite practicable. But sin is not 
an allegory ; it is an awful fact ; it is a Satan much worse than 
the old oriental one, and harder to seize and kill. But sin 
is yet to be dethroned and laid low ; the human race is to 
rise above it and be a holy race, and this perhaps will be its 
next great era, the next term of its geometrical progression, 
on its upward way to the gods, this side of immortality; then 
will come terrestrial immortality. 

There has been a natural progress in creation from the 
fern to the noblest plants, to cedars and pines, to oaks and 
maples, to apple trees, fig trees, and to the humbler glories 
of the lily, and the rose, and the grasses of the fields. There 
has been a similar and contemporaneous progress from the 
trilobite to the horse, ox, dog, eagle, and domestic fowl, 
and lastly to man. No man can estimate the years since the 
first fern arid the first trilobite made their appearance. Mil- 
lions do not begin to tell the amount, and millions of millions 
are probably short of the truth. The Creator has a plenty 
of time, and does not hurry his work; he works for his pleas- 
ure, and works leisurely. In the course of countless ages, he 
got up to man, and made him without powers of moral agency. 
Then, in the process of ages more, he took him along, and 
advanced him to reason. He possibly intends to do the same 
with some other animal races ; the coming ages will show. 
But man is not perfect in a state of moral agency. It is a 



CHAP. VII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 69 

condition of privilege and great possible good, and it is a 
condition of peril, and great possible evil. The next better 
state ahead is the state of perfect moral agency ; and after 
this the race is struggling. The history of the past gives the 
happy augury that we have begun to rise, never to stop ; 
certainly not till the earth becomes uninhabitable, which is 
not likely to be soon ; and if its constitution and climates 
should be greatly changed in the millions of ages to come, 
the constitutions of its vegetable and animal kingdoms may 
also be sufficiently changed to keep along with it. We are 
not a fallen race under the wrath of the Creator, but a rising 
and climbing race under his fostering care, and making our 
way to his own blessed and happy immortality. 

In the translation of this document good and evil are super- 
seded by right and wrong, the specific goods and evils meant, 
under the more general terms. The general misapprehension 
of the common terms requires this. 

This is the oldest of all the Hebrew traditions, and takes 
us farthest back. It contains remarkable facts in the history 
of the race which have been lost to the world 2000 years, 
and how much longer it is not easy to determine ; but all this 
while men have read over it and skimmed the surface, with- 
out penetrating to its cellars ; and few suspecting that it had 
any. But it had, and those cellars have contained treasures 
all this while of greater value to the human races than all 
the gold of California. But till our age the world was not 
ready to be intrusted with the gold of California, and the 
Creator allowed it to be kept concealed. So in regard to 
these treasures ; the world has heretofore been incompetent 
to appreciate them, and the Creator has allowed it to go its 
way, ignorant of their existence ; it is now competent to 
profit by a knowledge of them, and God discloses them and 
sends them forth, and invites the thirsty to these fountains, 
and the poor to these mines. 



70 



BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VIII. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



History of Adam and Eve, continued; Cain and Abel; the 
Cainites ; Origin of Civilization and Religious Worship. 

1 . And Adam knew his wife ; and she conceived and bore 
Cain, and said, I have obtained a man Jeva ; and she again 
bore his brother Abel. And Abel was keeper of a flock, but 
Cain was servant of the ground. 4 : 1, 2. 

2. And at the end of days Cain brought of the fruit of the 
ground a present to Jeva ; and Abel also brought of the first 
born of his flock, and of their fat ; and Jeva had respect to 
Abel and his present, and to Cain and his present he had not 
respect. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell 
[lost its cheerfulness]. And Jeva said to Cain, Why are you 
angry, and why has your countenance fallen ? Will there not 
be an acceptance if you do well ? but if you do not well, a 
punishment lies crouching [a beast] at the door; and his 
desire is [subject] to you, and you shall rule him [bring him 
upon you, or send him off]. 3-7. 

3. And Cain said to Abel his brother, [Let us go into the 
field] ; and when they were in the field, then Cain rose up 
against Abel his brother and killed him. And Jeva said to 
Cain, Where is Abel, your brother ? And he said, I know 
not ; am I my brother's keeper ? And he said, What have 
you done ? there is a voice of your brother's blood crying to 
me from the ground ; and now you are cursed from the ground 
which opened her mouth to receive your brother's blood from 
your hand. When you till the ground she shall no more give 
you her strength ; a wanderer and a vagabond shall you be 
in the earth. 8-12. 

4. And Cain said to Jeva, My punishment is greater than 
can be borne ; behold, you have cast me out to-day from 
before the face of the ground ; if I am hid from your face, and 
am a wanderer and vagabond in the earth, then any one that 



CHAP. VIII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 71 

finds me will kill me. Then said Jeva to him, Therefore any 
one that kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven- 
fold ; and Jeva set a mark on Cain, that no one who found 
him might smite him ; and Cain went out from the presence 
of Jeva, and dwelt in the land of Nod [China, perhaps], east 
of Eden. 1.3-15. 

5. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore 
Enoch ; and he built a city, and called the name of the city 
after the name of his son, Enoch ; and to Enoch was born 
Irad, and Irad begat Mehujael, and Mehujael begat Methu- 
sael, and Methusael begat Lamech ; and Lamech took two 
wives ; the name of the first was Ada, and the name of the 
second Zilla. And Ada bore Jabal ; he was the father of 
dwellers in tents, and [keepers] of cattle. And his brother's 
name was Jubal ; he was the father of every one that plays 
on the harp and pipe. And Zilla also bore Tubal Cain, a 
forger of every work of brass and iron ; and a sister of Tu- 
bal Cain was Noma. 10-22. 

6. And Lamech said to his wives, Ada and Zilla, Hear my 
voice ; wives of Lamech, attend to my saying ; for I killed a 
man for wounding me, and a lad for hurting me ; when Cain 
is revenged seven times, let Lamech be seventy-seven. 2.3, 24. 

7. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, 
and called his name Seth. For God has given me [says she] 
this posterity instead of Abel, because Cain killed him ; and 
a son was born also to Seth, and he called his name Anos ; 
then it was that men began to call on the name of Jeva [to 
worship God]. 25,26. 

V. 1. This document is a continuation of the preceding, 
and completes the history of the Adamic family. The history 
is progressive. The former tradition left Adam in the field 
a tiller of the ground, having language, marriage, morality, 
and clothing — far above the beasts. This tradition opens 
with an account of two of Adam's sons ; no notice is taken 



72 



BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VIII. 



of his daughters. On the birth of Cain his mother calls him 
Jeva, but his name is Cain. Why he is called Jeva, or Jeua, 
by his mother, does not appear. In the previous tradition 
respecting Adam, Jeva of gods is often mentioned, but never 
Jeva. Up to this time the tradition knows only Jeva of gods. 
Who is this Jeva ? The common opinion has been that this, 
too, is Jeva of gods. The Septuagint renders the Hebrew, 
For I have gained a man Jeva, I have obtained a man by the 
god. But this is not a rendering of the original ; it is an 
entire departure from it. The original wants both the god 
and the by. The Septuagint, therefore, cannot be depended 
upon in this case as an interpreter of the Hebrew ; it does 
not represent the Hebrew, but supersedes it. .When Eve 
says, I have obtained a man Jeva, it can hardly be supposed 
that she imagined she had given birth to a god. But who 
is Eve ? she, like Adam, is a representative person ; she rep- 
resents the wives of the race when they emerged from the 
forest, and for an indefinite period before, so that Cain can- 
not signify a first born son, nor an only son ; she had borne 
sons for ages. I conclude, therefore, that Cain is riot men- 
tioned as a first born son of our stock mother, nor as an only 
son at the time of his birth, but as one that was destined to 
be distinguished ; and his mother is made to predict the dis- 
tinction that he should attain at his birth. Mothers some- 
times have premonitions of the future greatness of remarkable 
men at their birth, and sometimes before. Mothers are very 
shrewd. But why should Eve predict that this son would be 
a Jeva ? and what was the Jeva referred to in the prediction ? 
Was it Jeva of gods ? I think not. The traditionists would 
hardly have preserved the prediction if they had not deemed 
it fulfilled in the subsequent life of the son ; and he did 
not make himself a god. What, then, could this Jeva have 
been ? I reply, he must have been a man of distinction, 
either of a previous age or a contemporary. From what fol- 
lows, I infer that Jeva belonged to that age. But an allegory 



CHAP. VIII. BIBLICAL THEOKIES. 73 

may sometimes represent tribes, nationalities, and profes- 
sions ; and it may be that Cain in this allegory represents 
farmers as a class, and Abel, shepherds ; the domestication 
of larger animals had not yet been attained ; that originated 
subsequently with the Cainites. 

V. 2. Obscure allegories are enigmas ; these ancient alle- 
gories are highly enigmatic, and their literal senses are to be 
accepted with caution. This account of fratricide may mean 
more than appears on the surface, and ought to be thoroughly 
examined. Abel keeps a flock, Cain serves the ground, and 
after an indefinite period both appear before Jeva with pres- 
ents. In the Septuagint these presents are called sacrifices ; 
but this does not appear. Adam is not reported to have been 
a sacrificer ; and from what precedes we have no right to 
assume that the Hebrew nrflfc, gift, present, is used here in 
any other than its generic sense. Old traditions are not to 
be interpreted by later ones. The Septuagint's method with 
this word is in agreement with its change of Jeva for by God ; 
but it is not a strict and accurate method of interpretation, 
and cannot be accepted as giving any light on the Hebrew 
which it defines. The presents for Jeva are according to the 
professions of the men ; Cain gives the fruit of the ground ; 
the tradition does not say the first fruits, nor the best fruits, 
but simply the fruits ; Abel gives the first born of the flock 
and their fat. Here is a marked difference in the character 
of the presents. Cain is not said to bring his best ; Abel is. 
The Septuagint, in this part of the narrative, renders Jeva, 
first, Kurios, Lord, then the god, and lastly, Kurios the god ; 
its general rendering of the word elsewhere is Kurios, Lord. 
It never transfers it, as it does other names, and as it ought 
always to do. 

These presents are brought to Jeva. We have a Jeva of 

gods in all the early part of this Adamic tradition ; at the 

birth of Cain we have Jeva without definition as a title of the 

child, and apparently a description of his future greatness ; 

7 



74 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VIII. 

and now who is this Jeva ? Is it Jeva of gods ? No ; if it 
was, it ought to be called Jeva of gods. This document is a 
continuation of the other, and the traditions in it are in im- 
mediate succession to those contained in the other ; and it is 
connected with them by the conjunction and. There was 
no necessity of qualifying Jeva by adding of gods, in the 
former part of the document, which does not equally exist 
here, if it denoted a god ; the omission of this qualification, 
therefore, here, proves that a man, and not a god, is meant. 
Other parts of the narrative agree with this supposition. 

Jeva is pleased with Abel's present, and rejects Cain's. 
Cain is angry, and his countenance loses its cheerfulness. 
This the Septuagint misconstrues, and renders, and Cain was 
much grieved, and fell on his face. In the expostulation of 
Jeva which follows, the Septuagint finds the same clause 
again, and renders it according to the Hebrew. The expos- 
tulation with Cain is remarkable, and not without obscurity. 
It has been singularly misunderstood and mistranslated. It 
charges Cam by implication with wrong ; it encourages him 
with the promise of favor if he does right ; and if he does 
evil, it threatens him with speedy punishment, and warns him 
that a beast is crouching at his door, yet subject to his 
control. It seems to be the language of an oriental sovereign 
to a rebellious subject. Adam, the stock man, is not intro- 
duced ; Jeva appears to be one of his sons, and the head man 
of the Adamic race at this time ; and the presents of the 
brothers seem to be an annual tribute to their common chief. 
The chief has been understood, besides promising Cain favor 
if he does well, to comfort him still further by reminding him 
that he is the superior of Abel, and has him in his power ; 
but this is a mistake, — he gives him no such absurd conso- 
lations. 

V. 3. Next comes the murder of Abel by his brother ; and 
this is most aggravated ; he entices him into the field, and 
then kills him. The circumstance of the enticement makes 



CHAP. Till. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 75 

it a deliberate, preconcerted murder of the highest degree and 
basest kind, and being the murder of a brother for the supe- 
rior favor of his chief, stands near the head of all human 
crimes. But as we are dealing with historical allegories and 
enigmas, it is worth while to question this a little, and see 
if we cannot make something of it better than a most aggra- 
vated case of personal fratricide. May not Cain and Abel 
be stock men, representing two leading divisions of the Adamic 
race in their times, Cain the agriculturists and Abel a shep- 
herd or nomadic tribe ? An ordinary instance of murder would 
not be likely to be handed down by tradition through suc- 
cessive millenaries by the lip, but a collision of considerable 
divisions of the Adamic race might. I conclude, therefore, that 
this may be an allegorical fratricide, a case in which fraternal 
branches of the Adamic race came in hostile collision with 
each other, the agricultural branch with the nomadic tribes, 
and that the latter were exterminated and absorbed by their 
more powerful brothers. May not tribes have begun to be 
formed, and may not this be the earliest historical trace of 
war ? But how, then, shall we understand the curse and ban- 
ishment of Cain by Jeva ? Dominant tribes, and even nation- 
alities, may be cursed and scattered abroad, like individuals. 
Jeva, however, may have been the head of a division of the 
Adamic race, more powerful than either of the contending 
divisions, and may have banished the victors, or they may 
have been dispersed without human interference. The Greeks 
conquered Troy, and were scattered and overwhelmed with 
disasters. Were they not a later Cain killing his brother ? 
Was not Troy a suffering and murdered Abel ? Has not 
every age its Cains, and is not this picture at once a history 
and prophecy ? Man-killers, and the destroyers of tribes and 
nations, are all fratricides ; these kill their weaker brothers, 
and do it on as slight pretences as the first murderer ; and like 
the first murderer they find a plenty of Jevas to call them to 
account and punish them for their misdoings. Cain is ban- 



76 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VIII. 

ished, but the curse of the ground does not seem to take 
effect ; it was not ratified by Jeva of gods. 

The story of Cain killing his brother is a tale often repeated, 
and a tragedy often reenacted. It is so common and inevi- 
table, that it may be accounted one of the laws of the race, 
that the stronger branches shall destroy and absorb the 
weaker ; and it is by this means that the advancement and 
increased elevation of the race are secured ; it is a beneficent 
law. The law of the animal world by which the stronger and 
more intelligent prey on the weaker and more simple, comes 
under the same rule : both tend to the multiplication of the 
stronger and more intelligent species, in preference to the 
weaker and less intelligent, and, if need be, to their exclusion 
and destruction. It seems hard, and it is hard in its opera- 
tion on the weaker races and species, but there is no help for 
it. It is of absolute necessity in order to secure elevation 
and exaltation ; the more powerful must in many cases de- 
stroy and displace the weaker, and the more intelligent the 
more simple. Greece must destroy Troy, and Rome Car- 
thage, and the hardier nations of the north Rome, and they 
too must perish or be absorbed in their turn, if they suffer 
themselves to be exceeded and outstripped in the race of 
improvement. 

V. 4. Cain remonstrates against Jeva's sentence of banish- 
ment, but does not notice his curse of the ground ; he prob- 
ably trusted that matter with another power, and Jeva pro- 
tects him by a law, that if any man kills Cain, seven of his 
tribe shall be killed. This law of sevenfold retaliation proves 
that the parties represent tribes or nationalities ; sevenfold 
retaliations for murder can be executed against tribes, but not 
against individuals. 

Eden appears to have been in India, and the country east 
of Eden would be Burmah or China. The Chinese are an 
ancient nation, and if they are a branch from the same stock 
as the Caucasians, must have left their western brothers as 



CHAP. VIII. BIBEICAE THEORIES.. 77 

early apparently as the times of Cain. But they have not the 
enterprise and invention of the early Cainites. This, how- 
ever, may be owing to their imperfect language, and other 
conservative institutions not favorable to intellectual develop- 
ment. 

V. 5. Cain is the father of civilization ; it may have com- 
menced under Jeva, but no city is ascribed to him. The first 
city on record is the city of Enoch, built by Cain ; it was 
perhaps the earliest city of the Adamic race. Cain's de- 
scendants are represented as follows: 1. Enoch, 2. Irad, 3. 
Mehujael, 4- Methusael, 5. Lamech, 6. Jabal and Jubal by 
Ada, and Tubal Cain by Zilla. Nothing remarkable is noted 
till we come to the sixth generation, when the sons of Lamech 
distinguish themselves by inventing several of the most im- 
portant arts, — tent-building, instrumental music, and reducing 
and working metals. These improvements imply combina- 
tion and cooperation. Reducing and working metals are far 
above the capacity of savages. We cannot be sure that any 
of these names represent individuals ; they may be heads of 
successive tribes of Cainites, and may stand for the tribes. 
The list contains no women till we come to the wives of 
Lamech, the fifth generation from Cain, and sixth from Adam ; 
and he has two wives, and the sons of each are distinguished 
for the invention of arts. It is not unlikely that the two 
wives of Lamech were two cities of the Lamechites, and that 
tent-making and music were invented in one of them, and 
reducing and working metals in the other. 

V. 6. The song of Lamech is a remarkable relic, and has 
been remarkably misinterpreted; the retaliation by killing 
seventy-seven for one, proposed by Lamech, is conformable to * 
oriental extravagance, and shows that though morality was 
reached, and right and wrong had begun to be understobdv- i 
the first lessons in this vast system of ideas were yet but 
imperfectly learned. Retaliative murders,; arej tioiti (justice, 
whether the retaliation is life for life, seven lives for one, or 
7* 



78 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. VIII. 

seventy-seven for one. If Lamech stands for Lamechites, 
polygamy loses all support or comfort from this ancient 
example. We have no evidence that the race made trial 
of polygamy till a later period ; it is a long step back from 
marriage. 

V. 7. This document concludes with another independent 
tradition, in respect to the Adamic stock. Adam has another 
son, Seth, whom Eve accepts as a consolation for the loss of 
Abel. When Seth was born we are not informed, except 
that it was after Abel's death; whether long after or but 
shortly, is not said. Seth has a son Anos ; then it was 
that men began to call on the name of Jeva. 

This is the first distinct, undoubted trace of religious wor- 
ship in the annals of the Adamic race. The only thing that 
looks towards religion or religious worship till now, is the 
giving of presents to Jeva by Cain and Abel at the com- 
mencement of this narrative. But now the times of Cain 
and Abel have gone by. This is after the death of Abel ; 
and the same narrative which gives the presentation of pres- 
ents to Jeva by Cain and Abel, virtually tells us that those 
gifts were not acts of divine worship, as they have been inter- 
preted by the Septuagint, and the interpretation from that 
adopted into the Epistle to the Hebrews, because divine wor- 
ship had not then been commenced. Abel is killed ; the 
Cainites build cities and commence civilization, invent arts 
and carry forward the interests of the Adamic race six genera- 
tions from Cain, seven from Adam ; and then the narrative 
returns to the Adamic stock, and gives us the birth of Seth, 
and of his son Anos, and in his time the commencement of 
calling on Jeva. 

In the description of stock men, generations are indefinite ; 
in the time of Seth, from Adam to Noah, the Hebrew tradi- 
tionists make them generally exceed one hundred years. No 
definite limit can be assigned them. 

The silence of sacred history in respect to the Cainites 



CHAP. VIII. BIBLICAL THEOBIES.. 79 

after this, and its attention to a younger branch of the 
Adamic family, favors the assumption that Cain is the father 
of the Chinese. The separation between the Chinese and the 
nations of Western Asia has been nearly perfect ever since 
the invention of letters, and probably for ages before. 

The song or proverb of Lamech has been strangely misun- 
derstood. It describes slaughtering a man as an act of retal- 
iation with interest. The young man wounded or injured 
Lamech, and he repaid him double, triple, or sevenfold, which 
resulted in his death. There is yet no justice, no superior 
government to take cognizance of crimes ; Lamech is his own 
avenger according to the strength of his arm, and redresses 
injuries to the extent of committing slaughter, which he 
acknowledges and glories in. But principles of law are in 
the way of development. Jeva had enacted that if any family 
killed Cain, seven of them should be killed ; and Lamech, 
with truly oriental extravagance, proposes, that if he is killed 
for the revenge he has inflicted, seventy-seven lives shall pay 
the forfeit. 

Man is now living in tents, the mention of which, as an 
invention of these times, shows that the race had not been 
so well accommodated before ; he is working metals and sub- 
jecting them to his service, one of the great triumphs of civil- 
ization and instruments of its advancement, and he is singing 
and playing on musical instruments, thus extending his musical 
entertainments beyond the capacity of the unassisted voice. 
Music is a great civilizer. 

This allegory appears among the Greeks disguised by 
alterations and additions which have hitherto prevented it 
from being recognized. The stock man Adam is replaced in 
the Greek edition by Chronos, Time, and Eve by Rhea, a 
name not entirely unlike its Hebrew prototype, but which 
signifies the earth. Man, according to that, is the joint 
product of time and the earth. Adam, according to the 
Hebrew narrative, has three sons, Cain, Abel, and Seth ; 



80 BIBLICAL THEOKIES. CHAP. VIII. 

Chronos has three, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Hades, who, 
according to the Greeks, received charge of the world below, 
answers to Abel, who was killed and went below. Zeus 
answers to Jeva, which is the name Grecized and only slightly 
changed. No account is taken of Seth, a younger son, the 
progenitor of the Hebrews ; but Cain is represented by Po- 
seidon, god of the sea, or a father of multitudes. The prolific 
character of this branch of the Adamic family may be inferred 
from the Hebrew narrative. Instead of Cain killing his 
brother, the Greeks give us Zeus dethroning his father and 
becoming god of the air. This seems very undutiful, and 
raises in our minds an instinctive prejudice against Zeus, 
as a monster of wickedness ; but it admits of an explanation 
by no means discreditable to its hero. Chronos signifies 
time, and to kill Time is to triumph over him. Jeva is 
the first in the race who gives his name to immortality. He 
is the first human time-killer. The race existed for an in- 
definite period in its native forest, without tent or cultivated 
field ; then it came up to moral agency, and into the open 
field, and began the invention of civilization and the arts. 
Adam is not the name of an individual ; it is a stock name. 
The first name of an individual that we find in the annals of 
the race, according to the Greeks, is the name of Jeva, Jeus, 
or Zeus. He therefore is the time-killer who dethrones his 
father, and succeeds to his honors as an immortal. 

The two allegories are harmonized by supposing that Jeva 
is equally with Cain a descendant of the stock man, and that 
he represents a superior branch of the Adamic family. The 
celebrity of Zeus, in the Greek edition of the allegory, is 
further indicated by his becoming a god of the air. Any one 
that will observe the natural growth and variations of com- 
mon tales as they pass from lip to lip, will not think the 
Greek edition of this allegory too unlike the Hebrew to 
allow a common origin. Different and independent origins 
are not to be supposed, or admitted without evidence. 



CHAP. VIII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. . 81 

With the close of this tradition the Cainites take leave of 
us forever ; no poet sings their praises, no historian writes 
their deeds ; the wave of oblivion covers them, and all is 
still ; but the new family peoples the western world. Accord- 
ing to the history up to this time, the worship of Jeva has 
not begun, nor, as far as appears, any religious worship what- 
ever. The race have come up from the forest, and from living 
on the fruit of trees, to living in tents, domesticating and 
raising herds, cultivating the land, working metals, and play- 
ing on instruments of music ; but yet it has no religious 
worship ; but the birth of that mighty thought is at hand. 
The Ab elites had perished before their richer and more 
powerful brother, and the sceptre of power and prosperity 
passed from the more indolent keepers of flocks, to the more 
hardy cultivators of fields. But these, too, accomplish their 
mission and disappear, to give place to a younger brother 
that shall far exceed them. The third eventful birth which 
sacred history notes in the family of Adam is that of Seth. 
Seth comes on the stage and passes away, and leaves but one 
trace to tell that he had lived, — that is his son Anos. Then 
it was that men began to call on the name of Jeva. This is a 
short sentence, but it tells of a great fact. The worship of 
Jeva has been the highest employment of the Adamic race 
from the time of Anos till now ; it has been connected with the 
highest and noblest culture which the race has attained ; and 
here has been locked up from immemorial ages a history of 
its origin ; not very full, not very complete, but something, 
and of a significance not to be easily overrated. How it 
began, who proposed it, by what arguments it was urged on 
men, we are not informed ; and we may be thankful to accept 
the information we have, though less than we would like. 

The commencement of Jeva worship was the commence- 
ment of God worship ; it was the worship of Jeva as God. 
What relation the Jeva of this worship was supposed "to have 
to the Jeva who was contemporary with Cain and Abel we 



82 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. IX. 

are not informed, and it is no matter what. According to 
the language of the Septuagint which ascribes the making of 
the world to Kurios the god, so we may say of this worship, it 
was rendered to Jeva the god ; and if so, was not rendered 
in vain. Whatever we think proper to call him, there is a 
supreme Creator of the world, who is also the supreme Father 
and Sovereign of its races, whom it is a joy and comfort to 
know and love, and whom it is possible in some little degree 
to serve and glorify ; and the birth of that knowledge is an 
epoch in the history of the race, only second to the attain- 
ment of reason, and a knowledge of right and wrong. 

It is not improbable that Jeva the man was after his death 
invested with divine attributes, and made the symbol of Jeva 
the god. But this does not vitiate Jeva worship or Jeva theol- 
ogy. In the process of ages the veneration of the dead and 
perhaps glorified man gave place to the veneration of a god 
that never dies, and the name was transferred by an exalta- 
tion of reason from being a symbol of the creature, to be a 
symbol of the Creator. 

With this ends the second document of the early history 
of the race ; and from this time Jeva is the proper name of 
the supreme God of the Jews ; and Alohim is also used 
sometimes as another proper name of the same God, and 
sometimes as a plural noun and name of other gods. The 
latter usage prevails with the former, making it often difficult 
to determine with certainty in which of the different senses 
to take it. 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Adamic Decade. 

1. This is an account of the genealogy of Adam. In the 
day in which God [Alohim] created Adam, he created him 
in the image of God ; and he created them male and female, 
and blessed them, and called their name Adam in the day he 



CHAP. IX. EIBLICAI; THE0KIES. 83 

created them; and Adam was 130 years old, and begat [a 
son] in his image, according to his likeness, and called his 
name Seth ; and the days of Adam after he begat Seth were 
800 years, and he begat sons and daughters ; and all the days 
of Adam which he lived were 930 years ; and he died. 5: 1-5. 

2. And Seth lived 105 years, and begat Anos ; and Seth 
lived after he begat Anos 807 years, and begat sons and 
daughters ; and all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he 
died. &-8. 

3. And Anos lived 90 years, and begat Kinan ; and Anos 
lived after he begat Kinan 815 years, and begat sons and 
daughters ; and all the days of Anos were 905 years, and he 
died. 9-11. 

4. And Kinan lived 70 years, and begat Mahallal; and 
Kinan lived after he begat Mahallal 840 years, and begat sons 
and daughters ; and all the days of Kinan were 910 years, 
and he died. 12-14. 

5. And Mahallal lived 65 years, and begat Jared ; and 
Mahallal lived after he begat Jared 830 years, and begat sons 
and daughters ; and all the daj'S of Mahallal were 895 years, 
and he died. 15-17. 

6. And Jared lived 162 years, and begat Enoch; and Ja- 
red lived after he begat Enoch 800 years, and begat sons and 
daughters ; and all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he 
died. I8-20. 

'7. And Enoch lived 65 years, and begat Methuselah ; and 
Enoch walked with the gods after he begat Methuselah 300 
years, and begat sons and daughters ; and all the days of 
Enoch were 365 years ; and Enoch walked with the gods and 
was not, for God took him. 21-24. 

8. And Methuselah lived 187 years, and begat Lamech ; 
and Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech 782 years, and 
begat sons and daughters ; and all the days of Methuselah 
were 969 years, and he died. 25-27. 

9. And Lamech lived 182 years, and begat a son, and called 



84 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. IX. 

his name Noah, saying, This [son] shall comfort us from our 
work, and from the labor of our hands, from the ground 
which Jeva cursed ; and Lamech lived after he begat Noah 
595 years, and begat sons and daughters ; and all the days 
of Lamech were 777 years, and he died. 28-31. 

10. And Noah was 500 years old, and Noah begat Shem, 
Ham, and Japheth. And when men began to be multiplied 
on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, 
then sons of the gods saw the daughters of men that they 
were fair, and took them wives of all they chose. And Jeva 
said, My breath shall not always strive with man, whose flesh 
causes them to err ; but their days shall be 120 years. There 
were destroyers in the earth in those days ; and also after sons 
of gods went to the daughters of men, then they bore them 
mighty men, who were of old men of renown ; and Jeva saw 
that the evil of man was great in the earth, and every forma- 
tion of the thought of his mind was only evil all the day ; 
and Jeva regretted that he had made man on the earth, and 
was grieved in his heart [mind] ; and Jeva said, I will de- 
stroy man whom I have made from the face of the ground, 
man, and beast, and reptile, and bird of heaven, for I re- 
gret that I made them. But Noah found favor in Jeva's 

sight. 32,6:1-8. 

This document commences another independent series of 
traditions, the first of which starts from the Adamic stock, 
and extends to Noah. Noah completes the first decade from 
Adam in the line of Seth. No other line is noticed, and all 
other lines are henceforth ignored. In the chronology of this 
document, 



1. 


Adam 


represents 


130 


years. 


7. 


Enoch represents 65 years. 


2. 


Seth 


<« 


105 


" 


8. 


Methuselah " 187 " 


3. 


Anos 


<« 


90 


«< 


9. 


Lamech « 182 " 


4. 


Kinan 


<« 


70 


«< 


10. 


Noah at his emi- 


5. 


Mahallal 


<( 


65 


M 




gration, . . . 600=1656. 


G. 


Jared 


<( 


162 


<( 







CHAP. IX. 



BIBLICAL THEORIES. 



85 



The Septuagint, with its accustomed liberties, extends 
these times thus : — 



1. Adam, 230 years. 

2. Seth 205 " 

3. Enos, 190 ' » 

4. Kainan, 180 " 

5. Maleleel, 160 « 

6. Jared, 260 " 



7. Enoch, 165 years. 

8. Methousala, . . 167 " 

9. Lamech, .... 188 " 
10. Noah 590 « 

2335 



This shows not the Septuagint' s judgment of the meaning 
of the Hebrew, but its correction of it ; neither can be ac- 
cepted as reliable ; they are only rough approximations to the 
truth. 

These patriarchs are all reported to have lived much longer 
than the periods assigned to them before providing their suc- 
cessors ; but these periods show that they were stock men, 
and not individuals. Documents that abound in allegoric 
elements are not valid authorities on which to build a theory 
of greater longevity in the infancy of the race than in later 
times. Since the era of exact estimates, human longevity 
has increased, instead of diminishing, and it has probably 
done so from the times of Adam. No man can say that 
in ages to come it may not be extended indefinitely, even to 
immortality. If in the process of ages it can be doubled, in 
the process of ages more it may be quadrupled, and at last 
become endless, and realize the dream of terrestrial immor- 
tality. 

It is a satisfaction to know how the matter stands, and to 
be relieved from the painful apprehension that the race has 
sustained great losses in respect to longevity, since it attained 
moral agency. There is nothing in these records to sustain 
so painful an apprehension, but every thing conspires to show 
that the race has been improving, instead of declining. 

Few events of interest are gleaned by the traditionists from 
the 1656 years previous to the Noachic emigration ; they fill 
the gap with ten stock names, a single counting by the fin- 



86 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. IX. 

gers of the two hands ; and if the number of fingers had 
been twice as great, possibly they would have given us twice 
as many, and a proportionably longer time. 

V. 7. The extraordinary piety of Enoch is indicated by 
the assertion that he walked with the gods 300 years, and w T as 
not, for God took him. This means literally that he enjoyed 
the society of the gods, as a man enjoys the society of his 
friends ; they came to his tent and met with him, and finally 
one of them took him off; and he was found no more with 
mortals. The Greeks and Romans relate similar incidents. 
In both cases they are to be interpreted by the same rule, as 
importing something extraordinary, both in the lives and 
deaths of the persons so honored, but as conformable to the 
known laws of the Creator which consign all to the dust. 

The Septuagint's rendering of verse 7 is as follows : And 
Enoch lived 165 years, and begat Methousala ; and Enoch 
pleased the God after he begat Methousala 200 years, and 
begat sons and daughters ; and all the days of Enoch were 
365 years ; and Enoch pleased the God and was not found, 
because the God translated him. This is quite an improve- 
ment on the Hebrew, and converts what that only intimates 
and hints obscurely, into positive assertions. The allusion to 
these incidents in the Epistle to the Hebrews, is, as usual 
with that author, taken from the Septuagint, and not from 
the Hebrew. The Hebrew does not say that Enoch was 
translated, but lated, taken, and by implication only taken to 
the gods. 

V. 10. Noah, the last of the Adamic decade, lived 500 
years, and begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. This great age 
shows clearly enough the character of the man as a stock 
man. Where he spent the earlier part of his life we are not 
informed ; but strange things happened in his day which are 
recorded here. 

Alohim is to be taken as plural in the formula sons of the 
gods. These gods do not appear to have been sons of Jeva, 



CHAP. IX. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 87 

but of other deities ; his sons are not mischievous. Sons of 
the gods are equivalent to gods, as sons of man are to man. 
The offspring of these gods by women were neither gods nor 
men, but demigods. The Greeks had their demigods in great 
honor, and ascribed to them great virtues, without making 
them the subjects of extraordinary wickedness. The Hebrew 
demigods were excessively vicious, and gave occasion for the 
Noachian deluge to release the human race from their tyr- 
anny ; more literally, drove Noah and his sons to emigrate 
from the older seats of the race in its equatorial home, to the 
high lands of Armenia, where he acclimated it to a cold and 
stern region. The bracing air of the mountains proved a 
benefit, and the race attained new and higher powers than 
had before been reached. The inhabitants of the colder 
climates are still dominant, and take the lead in arts, both 
of peace and war. 

This narrative teaches us some valuable lessons : 1 . It 
shows the prevalence of polytheism ; gods were numerous : 
2. It shows the low and imperfect notions yet attained of 
gods ; they were so little exalted above the human race that 
they were capable of marriage relations with women, and 
actually formed such connections, and became co-parents with 
them of a mixed race : 3. They attended so poorly to the 
education of their sons, that they became the pest and destruc- 
tion of the world. The Greeks report to us their daughters, 
but the Hebrews only their sons ; the Hebrew traditionists 
never tell us of daughters unless some interest of the other 
sex demands it ; they are not partial to women, and perhaps 
under the oriental oppressions found fewer than we might 
suppose entitled to their favorable consideration. It is the 
policy of oppression to debase its objects, and it has this 
effect sometimes even more than it wishes. Independence is 
the nurse of all great virtues, and neither sex nor any condi- 
tion can prosper without it. 

The Septuagint renders a part of verse 10 thus : And the 



88 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. X. 

sons of the God, seeing the daughters of the man, that they 
were beautiful, took them wives of all whom they chose ; 
and Kurios the god said, My spirit shall not abide in these 
men forever, because they are flesh ; but their days shall be 
120 years. And there were giants on the earth in those days ; 
and after that, when the sons of the god went in to the 
daughters of the men and begat [offspring] of them, they 
were the giants who were of old, the men of renown. 

In critical passages, the Septuagint never gives us exact 
translations, but the Greek view of the facts. Giants were 
not confined to this early period. With witches and other 
pests of the Adamic race they were found abroad by the 
invention of letters in the times of Samuel and David, and 
gradually expelled from the earth by that great incantation. 



CHAPTER X. 

The NoacTiic Emigration. 

1. These are the accounts of Noah: Noah was a righteous 
man, perfect in his generations ; Noah walked with the gods, 
and Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth ; and 
the earth was corrupt before the gods, and the earth was full 
of violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was cor- 
rupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way on the earth. 6 : 9-12. 

2. And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come 
before me, for the earth is full of violence before them ; and 
behold, I will destroy them [from] the earth. Make you a 
chest of pine trees ; make chambers in the chest, and pitch it 
on the inside and on the outside with pitch ; and this is what 
you shall make it : 300 cubits [450 feet] shall be the length 
of the chest ; 50 cubits [75 feet] her breadth ; and 30 cubits 
[45 feet] her height. You shall make a window for the 
chest, and finish her a cubit high [like a chimney], and you 
shall set a door of the chest in her side, and make under, 



CHAP. X. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 89 

second, and third [apartments]. And behold, I will bring a 
deluge of water on the earth to destroy all flesh in which is 
the breath of life under the heavens ; all that is on the earth 
shall die ; but I will establish my covenant with you, and you 
shall go into the chest, and your sons, and your wife, and 
your sons' wives with you ; and two of every living thing of 
all flesh shall you cause to go into the chest, to preserve 
[them] alive with you, male and female shall they be, of the 
bird for his species, and of cattle for her species, and of every 
reptile of the ground for his species, two of all [creatures] 
shall go to you, that you may preserve [them] alive ; and do 
you take you of all food which is eaten, and collect [it] for 
you ; and it shall be for you and them for food. And Noah 
did according to all that God commanded him ; so did he. 13-22. 

3. Then said Jeva to Noah, Go you and all your house into 
the chest, for you have I seen righteous before me in this gen- 
eration. Of all pure cattle take for you seven [and] seven, 
a male and his mate ; and of cattle that are not pure, two, a 
male and his mate ; of the birds of heaven, also, seven [and] 
seven, male and female, to preserve alive a posterity on the 
face of all the earth ; for yet seven days and I will rain on 
the earth 40 days and 40 nights, and destroy every structure 
which I have made from the face of the ground. 7 : 1-5. 

4. And Noah did according to all that Jeva commanded 
him ; and Noah was 600 years old, and there was a deluge 
of waters on the earth ; and Noah went, and his sons, and 
his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the chest from 
before the waters of the flood ; of pure cattle, and of cattle 
that are not pure, and of the bird, and every thing which 
creeps on the ground, two [and] two, went to Noah to the 
chest, male and female, according to what God commanded 
Noah ; and [this] was for seven days ere the waters of the 
flood were on the earth. &-10. 

5. In the year 600 of Noah's life, in the second month, on 
the 17th day of the month, all the fountains of the great 

8* 



90 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. X. 

[celestial] abyss were cleft, and the windows of the heavens 
opened, and there was a rain on the earth 40 days and 40 
nights. On that day went Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and 
Japheth, Noah's sons, and Noah's wife, and his three sons' 
wives with them, into the chest ; they and every animal ac- 
cording to her species, and all cattle according to her species, 
and every wing ; and they went to Noah into the chest, two 
[and] two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life ; and 
they were male and female, from all flesh, according as God 
commanded him ; and Jeva shnt him in. 11-16. 

6. And the deluge was 40 days on the earth ; and the wa- 
ters increased and raised up the chest, and took it up from 
the earth ; and the waters prevailed and were increased 
exceedingly over the earth, and the chest sailed on the face 
of the waters ; and the waters prevailed very greatly over the 
earth, and all the high mountains were covered which are 
under all the heavens ; 1 5 cubits [22£ feet] above did the 
waters prevail and cover the mountains. And all flesh ex- 
pired which creeps on the earth, bird, and cattle, and animal, 
and every reptile which is produced abundantly on the earth, 
and every man, all which has the breath of life in its nostrils, 
of all that is on the dry land, died ; and God destroyed every 
structure which he had made on the face of the ground, from 
man to cattle, to reptile, and to the bird of the heavens, and 
they were destroyed from the earth, and Noah only remained, 
and those that were with him in the chest ; and the waters 
prevailed on the earth 150 days. 17-24. 

7. Then God remembered Noah, and all the animals, and 
all the cattle that were with him in the chest ; and God passed 
a breath over the earth, and the waters subsided, and the 
fountains of the great abyss and windows of the heavens were 
shut, and the rain was restrained from the heavens, and the 
waters returned from the earth continually ; and the waters 
were exhausted at the end of 150 days ; and the chest rested 
in the seventh month, on the 17th day of the month, among 



CHAP. X. BIBLICAL THEOBIES. 91 

the mountains of Ararat. And the waters continued to de- 
cline till the 10th month; in the 10th month, on the 1st day 
of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen ; and at 
the end of 40 days Noah opened the window of the chest 
which he had made, and sent out a raven; and she went 
entirely out and returned, till the waters were dried up from 
the earth. Then he sent out a dove from him, to see whether 
the waters were dried up from the face of the ground ; and 
the dove found not a rest for the sole of her foot, and returned 
to him to the chest, for the waters were on the face of all the 
earth. Then he reached out his hand and took iier, and 
brought her to him in the chest. Then he waited yet seven 
other days, and again sent out the dove from the chest ; and 
the dove came to him at evening, and behold, a fresh olive 
leaf was in her mouth ; and Noah knew that the waters were 
dried up from on the earth. Then he waited yet seven other 
days, and sent out the dove, and she returned to him again 
no more. 8: 1-12. 

8. And in the year 601, in the first [month], on the 1st 
day of the month, the waters were dried up from the earth ; 
and Noah removed the cover of the chest, and saw, and 
behold, the face of the ground was dry ; and in the second 
month, on the 27th day of the month, the earth was dry. 13,14. 

9. Then God spoke to Noah, saying, Go forth from the 
chest, you, and your wife, and your sons, and your sons' wives 
with you ; every animal which is with you of all flesh, bird 
and cattle, and every reptile that creeps on the earth, bring 
forth with you, and let them multiply on the earth, and be 
fruitful and increase on the earth. Then Noah went out, and 
his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him ; every 
animal, and every reptile, and every bird, every thing that 
creeps on the earth, according to their families, they went out 
of the chest. 15-19. 

10. Then Noah built an altar for Jeva, and took of all 
pure cattle, and of every pure bird, and offered sacrifices on 



92 BIBLICAL THEOBLES. CHAP. X. 

the altar ; and Jeva smelled the odor of rest ; and Jeva said 
to his heart [mind], I will no more curse the earth on account 
of man, though the thought of the mind of man is evil from 
his youth ; neither will I any more smite every living thing 
as I have done ; seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, 
and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease 
to all the days of the earth. 20-22. 

11. Then God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to 
them, Be fruitful and increase, and fill the earth ; and your 
fear and your terror shall be on every animal of the earth, 
and on every bird of the heavens, and on every thing which 
creeps on the ground, and on all the fishes of the sea ; they 
are given into your hands. Every reptile that lives shall be 
your food ; I have given you all things like the green grass ; 
only the flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat. And 
surely your blood for your lives will I require ; from the hand 
of every animal will I require it, and from the hand of man ; 
from the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of 
man ; he that sheds a man's blood, by man shall his blood be 
shed ; for in the image of God made he man ; and be fruitful, 
and increase and multiply in the earth, and increase in it. 9 : 1-7. 

12. Then spoke God to Noah and his sons with him, say- 
ing, Behold, I will establish my covenant [constitution] with 
you, and with your posterity after you, and with every living 
soul that is with you, bird, and cattle, and every animal of the 
earth with you, of all that come out of the chest, of every 
animal of the earth ; and I will establish my covenant with 
you, and all flesh shall be cut off no more by the waters of a 
deluge, neither shall there be any more a deluge to destroy 
the earth. And God said, This is the covenant which I will 
give between me and you, and every living soul which is with 
you, for the generations of the world. I will set my bow in 
a cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me 
and the earth ; and when I spread my cloud on the earth, and 
my bow appears on the cloud, then I will remember my cove- 



CHAP. X. BIBLICAL THEOKIES. 93 

nant which is between me and you and every living soul in 
all flesh, and the waters shall no more be a deluge to destroy 
all flesh, but my bow shall be on the cloud, and I will see 
her, to remember the eternal covenant between God and 
every living soul of all flesh which is on the earth ; and God 
said to Noah, This is a sign [seal] of the covenant which I 
establish between me and all flesh that is on the earth. 8-17. 

13. And the sons of Noah, who went forth from the chest, 
were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth ; and Ham was the father 
of Canaan. These three were sons of Noah, and from them 
all the earth was peopled. And Noah began to be a man of 
the ground, and planted a vineyard, and drank the wine, and 
became intoxicated, and uncovered himself in the middle of 
the tent ; and Ham, father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of 
his father, and told his two brothers without. Then Shem 
and Japheth took a mantle and put it on the shoulders of 
both of them, and went backwards and covered the naked- 
ness of their father, and their faces were behind, and they 
saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from 
his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him, 
and said, Cursed be Canaan ; servant of servants shall he be 
to his brothers ; and he said, Blessed be Jeva, God of Shem, 
and Canaan shall be his servant ; God shall enlarge Japheth, 
and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be 
his servant. And Noah lived after the deluge 350 years, and 
all the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died. 18-29. 

If the inventors and perfecters of these allegories had 
dreamed of the simplicity with which the world was destined 
to receive them, and of the actual impositions they were to 
practise on the race, they would have paused long before 
proceeding, without such explanations as should make the 
mischief impossible. They had no reason to suppose that 
men would abjure common sense, in the interpretation of 
their productions ; they do not abjure it in the interpretation 



94 BIBLICAL THEOKIES. CHAP. X. 

of the productions of the Greeks and other nations ; but the 
sacred writings of the Hebrews and Christians are made an 
exception to all other works, and the great safeguards of truth 
and reason which are admitted elsewhere, are here discarded. 
This is supposed to be for the honor of the Judaic and Chris- 
tian religions, but it is really most dishonorable to them, and 
most injurious in its effects. The mischiefs which it has done 
are infinite, and it is still working. Many good men are the 
patrons of known superstitions, and thousands are too cow- 
ardly to oppose them. 

V. 1. The corruption of the world in all ages is a sad 
picture for the contemplation of gods and good men, and 
calls for continual deluges. God is forever sweeping away 
the wicked, and ridding the earth of pests and destroyers ; 
his waves pursue them to the tops of mountains, and over- 
whelm them in all the valleys, and the general law of sin is 
death and misery. This is its correction and punishment, 
and is not easily forgiven or remitted. 

V. 2. God advises Noah of his intended judgments on the 
wicked, and instructs him to avoid them. This is not un- 
common nor incredible ; it is his constant work ; and he is 
constantly effecting deliverances for faithful and true men, and 
pouring down destructions on destroyers. t"Dti, Tebah, chest, 
is an Egyptian word, which denotes a sarcophagus, or box to 
put a mummy in, a mummy chest, or other box of the kind. 
It is applied to denote this box or chest, and also that in 
which the infant Moses was exposed in the Nile. The box 
of Moses was, however, without a cover, while this was cov- 
ered, except a chimney window; that of Moses was made 
of papyrus, while this is made of pine trees ; and that of 
Moses was only of a size to accommodate an infant, and this 
is large enough to accommodate four families and pairs, and 
sevens of pairs, of all the animals in the world, with pro- 
visions to last them nearly a year. 

Noah's chest is a very large one, but it is not a vessel, nor 



CHAP. X. BIBLICAL THEOEIES. 95 

a house, nor a barn, — it is only a huge box, or chest, and 
ought to be so rendered ; had it been correctly understood 
and correctly rendered, the world would have had a little 
chance to avoid its extraordinary blunders in the interpreta- 
tion of the allegory. The name of this chest, being Egyp- 
tian, shows that the allegory is of Egyptian finish. If it had 
been finished in the native country of the Aramaeans, no 
Egyptian word would have been introduced into it. But 
though the allegory is of Egyptian finish, it is of an Aramaean 
origin, and relates to the early history of the Aramaeans. 
The Hebrews, therefore, must have carried the facts to Egypt, 
and wrought them over into the form in which we now find 
them while in that country. The allegorical character of the 
narrative appears from the unsuitableness of this great instru- 
ment for its purposes. It is well adapted to bury the dead 
in, but could not possibly serve the living ; it is pitched 
within and without, and made to exclude water, and of course 
air ; and has but one window peering up like a chimney on 
the top, a cubit high. Its vast crowd of animals could not 
have lived a day ; the great mass of them would have died 
long before their coffin had been raised from the stocks. 

This box, therefore, cannot be taken literally : what does 
it mean ? Men box things for journeys and voyages ; this 
great box is a symbol of a great journey and a long voyage. 
So much it certainly signifies. It took a great journey and 
made a long voyage. 

Putting into the chest domestic animals for a voyage of 
emigration is also not unintelligible ; it signifies taking them 
along; and if a large number and all the most valuable 
varieties were taken along, this might easily grow, on the 
lips of successive traditionists, to be pairs and sevens of all 
the animals of the world, and more especially as the Noachic 
emigration is supposed to comprehend the first introduction 
of domestic animals and men to the higher regions of the 
Euphrates and Tigris. In the early stages of the human race 



96 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. X. 

its existence was only possible in tropical and temperate 
regions, where forest fruits are various and abundant. But 
with civilization and arts it acquired a capacity to endure 
colder regions, and extract a living from less propitious lands 
and less fertile soils, and was destined to attain a higher 
development under those apparent disadvantages than was 
previously gained. The mountains were anciently considered 
seats of the gods. Zeus held his court on Olympus ; 
mountainous countries agree with human nature, and have 
developed some of its most godlike attributes. 

God's communications and commands to Noah in respect 
to this emigration may be understood naturally; he is»the 
constant director and adviser of good men ; all goodness and 
wisdom are his, and of his communication. His advices to 
good men are of infinite value, and meet them in all emer- 
gencies, great and small. They are not confined to ages and 
eras, or to a few ; they are imparted to all ages and belong 
to all eras. 

V. 3. The common method of travel is to take supplies 
and goods in chests, and to accompany them unconfined. 
But oriental and Egyptian imaginations delight in incon- 
gruities : they give wings to lions, heads of animals to men, 
tongues of men to beasts, etc., and produce an infinite variety 
of impossible and ludicrous combinations. It is in conformity 
with this method to make one box answer the purpose of an 
indefinite number of boxes, to accommodate the goods of the 
Noachic emigrants, going not with the Greek Jason to Colchis 
for a golden fleece, but to the mountains of Armenia for the 
benefits of mountain air and mountain scenery, by the aid 
of which to develop new capacities and glories for the human 
race ; and having made a great box for the goods, it simplifies 
the business of travel very much to put in first the domestic 
animals, and have no further trouble with them; and lastly, 
the human beings, the emigrants, and have them all boxed 
up together. Besides its love for the incongruous, both 



CHAP. X. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 97 

Egyptian and oriental allegories are great for simplicity ; 
they take the shortest courses to their ends ; they are flush 
of ends and sparing of means ; and the Egyptians far exceed 
the Aramaeans in their incongruous combinations and facile 
methods of getting at results. This allegory takes Aramaean 
elements and gives them an Egyptian finish, and the result is 
a great company emigration, in which goods, animals, and men 
are transported many hundred miles to new seats of civiliza- 
tion, in a huge box. But how shall such a box be got along ? 
The Egyptians early acquired great skill in transportation, as 
well as in several other arts ; the transportation of the stones 
of some of their architectural works is the wonder of modern 
science, and it would require the recovery of lost inventions 
to take them back again to .their quarries. What is the 
mighty agent to be put in requisition to move this chest from 
the plains of India to the mountains of Armenia ? Shall a 
thousand elephants be harnessed to it ? They could not 
move it an inch. But there is an agent that can, one that 
can play with it as a child, and put it as a pin on its bosom, 
and toss it up like a ball. This agent is water ; and at the 
call of the mighty enchanter, water appears, and accomplishes 
the task. 

The distinction of pure and impure cattle now first appears 
in history : the pure were those deemed fit for food, and con- 
sequently for sacrificial purposes ; and the impure were deemed 
unfit for food and for sacrifices. What men could not eat, 
would of course be offensive to the gods. Sacrifices were 
generally eaten by the priests and others. 

V. 4. Noah did the entire will of Jeva in this emigration, 
and waited on him to send him along, and bear him in what 
direction and to what f land he saw fit ; like a later distin- 
guished emigrant, he went out God-directed, not knowing 
whither he went, but seeking a country for a new experiment 
on the capabilities of human nature. The week occupied in 
packing the box is quite short for so great an operation ; but 
9 



98 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. X. 

the task is easy for oriental and Egyptian fiction. It is 
accustomed to great feats. 

V. 5. In the year 600 of Noah's life, in the 2d month, 
and on the 17th day of the month, the mighty transporta- 
tionist addresses himself to his work and comes pouring down 
from all the fountains of the celestial seas and the windows 
of heaven. But he does not act the part of a transporta- 
tionist alone ; he is a universal destroyer of all other life, 
human and animal; such is the will of Jeva. The emi- 
gration of Noah was a complete secession ; he left the older 
seats of the human race, never to return, and to have no 
subsequent communication with their inhabitants. This is 
represented by their destruction. We bury those we leave 
never again to see. 

V. 6. A rain 40 days and nights would be quite inade- 
quate to produce a real deluge such as is here described, but 
it is quite sufficient to produce a poetic one; the 150 days 
that the waters were on the earth may be the time spent by 
the emigrants in sailing to their new homes ; it was a long 
voyage, marked, no doubt, with many stops, and possibly 
some explorations on the way. 

V. 7. It was a serious matter to decide how far to go and 
where to stop, and the Noachites may have adopted the com- 
mon expedient of ancient times, of the use of the omens of 
birds for this purpose. Such was said to be the case with the 
ancient Romans ; but whatever means they used to assist 
their judgments, are not unaptly represented by sending out 
first a raven, a bird of ill omen, and then doves, to ascertain 
the will of Jeva, and the suitableness of the country for their 
purposes. 

V. 8. Noah does not select his place of settlement in a 
hurry ; he waits 40 days before he sends out his raven, and 
then week after week more, to take the omens of the dove ; and 
when the good omen of the olive leaf is at length obtained, 
he still waits another week, till his dove leaves him to return 



I 



CHAP. X. BIBLICAL THEOEIES. 99 

no more. This indicates the extreme care and caution with 
which the new seats of the race were selected. Much was 
depending on a wise selection, and the help of Jeva might 
well be invoked on the occasion. 

V. 9. Finally, God comes to the help of his servants, and tells 
them to go forth from their box, with their animals and goods, 
and take possession of the new world. This implies nothing 
miraculous ; but it is providential, and represents, not too 
strongly, -that universal providence which guides the judg- 
ments and presides over the destinies of good men. Noah 
is not alone in being God-led and God-directed. Such lead- 
ing and direction are the common privilege of the good ; God 
has many Noahs, and every Noah has a God and Saviour in 
the Eternal. 

V. 10. In verse 10 we have the first altar that appears in 
history, and its sacrifice is historically the first sacrifice offered 
to a superior being. It is not a sacrifice of expiation or 
atonement, but a thanksgiving, and occupies the same place 
in the Noachic theology that an American thanksgiving does 
in the practical theology of these times. A long and tedious 
voyage was accomplished, and the voyagers express their 
thankfulness to God by a sacrifice and feast. Jeva smelled 
the agreeable odor, and was pleased, and promises the Noa- 
chites the common blessings of the world, and perhaps the 
permanent possession of their new seats of empire. 

V. 11. In verse 11 is the first appearance of the great 
law of capital punishment in history. Whether Noah left it 
behind in his native climes we are not informed ; probably he 
did : the law of retaliation involved this ; death is the retali- 
ation for death ; only it has to be inflicted by the friends of 
the killed, because the injured party can no longer act for 
himself. There is no more reason to suppose that God 
interposed specially to reveal this principle, or to enjoin an 
observance of it on the world, than that he made a special 
revelation to teach us that 2 and 2 make 4, or that 10 less 1 



100 BIBLICAL THEOEIES. CHAP. X. 

are 9. The invention of capital punishments for murder is 
not so difficult as to transcend the human powers. Its ex- 
pediency, however, is still a question. It is the last vestige 
of the law of retaliation, and as other retaliation has been 
given up, good men are in many cases led to query whether 
this, too, may not be abandoned to advantage. Retaliation 
is not justice in other cases, and a higher principle may have 
place here. 

V. 12. In verse 12 we have the first of all God's transac- 
tions with men in the specific form of a covenant or constitu- 
tion provided with seals and pledges. God gave Adam his 
promises ; these were deemed sufficient, and all that the case 
required, and the Adamic traditions add nothing more. But 
the second father of the Adamic race is preferred to the first 
in this respect ; he receives not promises only, but solemn and 
formal constitutions and acts of gift sealed with the greatest 
and grandest of the natural wonders and beauties of the 
world — the rainbow. The fictitious character of this transac- 
tion ought not to require argument. God's word wants au- 
thentication, but it does not require seals nor pledges ; nor 
does God require remembrancers, — he never forgets. These 
are necessary for creatures, but impossible for the Creator. 
God cannot act unsuitably to his nature. 

V. 13. The allegory of the curse of Canaan on account of 
the filial impiety of Ham, his father, is one of the darkest 
portions of this narrative. The oldest and youngest sons 
have some advantages over intermediate births, not only 
according to arbitrary usages,' which vary in different nations 
and ages, but according to eternal and unalterable principles. 
The head position is a position of honor and privilege, and 
the last to leave the paternal hand and care often has interests 
in the parental heart that belong to no other son. Shem as 
oldest, and Japheth as youngest, might easily take the prece- 
dence of Ham, who appears to have been intermediate, 
though in the history of the curse called the youngest ; but 









CHAP. X. BIBLICAIi THEORIES. 101 

why should Ham. be painted so black, and such dreadful 
auguries appear of his future woe ? The darkness of the 
picture looks suspicious, and suggests the hand of an enemy. 
The Ham race did not equal the others ; and considered as 
one of the second triad of the Adamic stock, it is inferior to 
the other two. It is like the Abel branch in the first triad, 
to a great extent killed and absorbed by its stronger broth- 
ers ; but Assyria, Babylon, Nineveh, the Phoenicians and the 
Egyptians, are by no means contemptible, and at times nearly 
overmastered all the other Noachic races. Canaan represents 
but a small part of the Ham race, and of these the Phoeni- 
cians were for a time the pioneers of civilization, far exceed- 
ing all the other orientals, and only exceeded by the Greeks. 
They were the master builders of Solomon's temple. As the 
inventors of Aramaean letters, they are the fathers of all Ara- 
mcean and western literatures, ancient and modern, and of 
all western learning and refinement. 

The Hebrews, under Joshua, invade Canaan and wrest it 
from its lawful possessors ; the Hebrew traditions describe 
the Canaanites at this time as a very wicked race, that Jeva 
had indignation with forever, and wished to exterminate. 
They were probably wicked, and possibly deserved their fate. 
Individuals are afflicted sometimes beyond their deserts ; this 
is more seldom the case with nations. If the Canaanites 
had been wiser and better men, they would have made a 
stronger defence, and repelled invasion. But Canaan was 
never made as despicable as the curse imprecates. The Phoe- 
nicians retained their independence almost as long as the He- 
brews, and never were reduced to permanent bondage. If at 
times sold as slaves, they availed themselves of the chances 
that offered for the recovery of their liberties, and many of 
them became incorporated with the Greeks and Romans, the 
dominant races of the world ; a few, probably, with the He- 
brews. 

Facts are mighty teachers, and only require to be repre- 
9* 



102 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. X. 

sented correctly to make themselves intelligible ; but fictions 
need to be distinguished from facts with some care. There 
is reason to suspect that the curse of Canaan is a pure fiction, 
interpolated into the Noachic traditions by Hebrew prejudice, 
after the Hebrews had become the exterminators of the Ca- 
naanites. As a fiction, it teaches that children ought to have 
great respect for their parents, and by all possible means hide 
their imperfections and sins — a lesson not to be objected to; 
but in another point of view, the story has an extremely ma- 
licious aspect. The offence is something, and might have 
deserved a rebuke, possibly punishment ; but to make it the 
occasion of a kind and pious father's cursing the posterity of 
the offending son to all future generations, is so perfectly con- 
tradictory to the known and well-defined principles of Chris- 
tianity, and to common humanity, that we may safely say it 
must he false. No pious Noah, stock man or individual, 
ever perpetrated such madness ; and if such a degree of insane 
fury was possible to an angry human parent, it could never 
secure the approbation of the great Father, who is slow to 
anger and of great kindness to all his children, and whose 
law it is that children shall not die for the sins of fathers, nor 
fathers for the sins of children ; but that men shall die for 
their own sins, and live by their own righteousness. 

The curse of Canaan would be a disgrace to an American 
savage, and make him worse than a brute. If we compare 
it with the Christian law, Bless and curse not, and with the 
injunction of Christ to pray for the good of our enemies, 
instead of cursing them, and then put it by the side of the 
great law of parental love and good will, we must condemn 
it. To admit it as a part of the eternal law of righteous- 
ness, is a degree of absurdity and folly incompatible with 
common sense ; the man that can do it with his eyes open, 
and knowing what he does, is either a fool or a fiend. 

Nothing but the most refined malice could ever have con- 
ceived such an idea as to consign unborn generations of all 



CHAP. X. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 103 

future time to irredeemable bondage for the indiscretion 
attributed to Ham. It is time that Christianity was allowed 
to declare off from any concurrence in such wickedness, and 
from any other sentiment in regard to it than one of unquali- 
fied abhorrence. God is love, and not malice, and pious 
fathers are expected to act towards their children somewhat 
better than savages and fiends. 

The application of this curse to the African negroes is wide 
of the mark ; the negroes are not the descendants of Ham, 
nor of the Noachic stock. They are independent branches 
of the human family, cradled in another continent, trained in 
other forests, and not yet fully brought out of their forest 
homes. But they have married, eaten of their trees of knowl- 
edge, put on their clothing, commenced their earth culture 
and mechanic arts, and their race culture, and are on the 
same highways of the eternal Father with their Adamic broth- 
ers, with a destiny not less brilliant before them, and the 
same immortality both here and hereafter to struggle for. 

The American Indian race is less advanced. They are 
still, for the most part, a forest race, but, under the genial 
influences of Christianity, may be brought rapidly forward. 
Their Cainite brothers, however, are hard on them, and they 
are rapidly wasting away. Some other races seem to be 
original, and the Noachic races are discriminated from them 
with difficulty. 

The negro race cannot be traced to the Adamic family, 
nor is there any evidence that they belong to it. This is not 
said to disparage them, and does not disparage them. It is 
as suitable for God to make different independent races of 
men, as to make different independent species of birds, or 
fishes. He is no more restricted to making a single first 
man and deriving all other men from him, than he is to mak- 
ing a single first bird and deriving all other birds from him, 
or a single first fish and deriving all other fishes from him, or 
a single first quadruped and deriving all other quadrupeds 



104 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. X. 

from him. The analogy of the other creatures is decidedly 
against the supposition of a common origin of all men, and 
history has nothing in its favor. The Adamic and Noachic 
traditions teach no such doctrine. . 

The Noachic deluge has not figured in history in vain ; a 
secession and company emigration to get away from old 
traditionary despotisms, and reorganize society on better 
principles than are gained in its old seats, has been one of 
the most essential means of progress, and of the multiplica- 
tion of the Adamic races. The Noachic emigration may be 
the greatest of these movements, as it is the oldest ; and yet 
distance lends some enchantments and glories to its view, 
which later emigrations for the like purpose will one day 
attain. 

The Greek and Roman emigrations followed the Noachic, 
without being signalized by colossal chests and universal del- 
uges ; and the emigration of the pilgrim fathers of New Eng- 
land to the then uncultivated wilds of America, commenced 
with the passengers of the Mayflower, the church of Rev. 
John Robinson, and was continued for many years as a great 
company movement to obtain relief from traditionary oppres- 
sions, and reorganize society on better principles than ever 
prevailed in the fatherland. When some millenaries shall 
have passed by, this last great movement may assume an im- 
portance in the eye of our successors scarcely inferior to the 
Noachic and Grecian movements in the grandeur and glory 
of its results ; possibly it may go beyond them. But the 
problem of American emigration is yet to be solved, and its 
true character to appear. Time is at his task, and sons of 
God in other worlds have their eyes upon us. 

Deucalion's deluge, among the Greeks, has some points of 
agreement with the Aramaean one ; but it wants some of the 
essential Aramaean elements, particularly the three sons of 
Noah, and his domestic animals, which are indispensable 
helps of civilization. The locality is also changed, and the 



CHAP. X. BI13LICAL THEORIES. 105 

emigrant landed in Thessaly, in Greece, instead of being 
left among the mountains of Armenia. It has, however, the 
Egyptian box, or chest, which may have had originally an 
Aramaean equivalent ; and makes the emigrants founders of 
a new race to people the world, but not of an exclusive one : 
it does not drown out all the rest of the world to make room 
for its emigrants, only a little portion of Greece ; and not 
content to people that by natural means, it sets Deucalion to 
converting stones into men, and his wife Pyrrha to converting 
the same unpromising subjects into women. This means that 
they trained and civilized native races, and brought them up 
to their own pitch of intellectual and artistic culture. Deu- 
calion differs radically from Noah in this respect : Noah 
brought the entire race along with him from India, and 
planted it in the high lands of Western Asia ; Deucalion 
went to Greece as a missionary of civilization and refinement, 
founding a settlement of Aramaeans, but at the same time 
finding rude tribes in the field before him, whom he instructed 
and elevated. 

The history of Noah is scarcely less remarkable than that 
of Adam ; like his great progenitor, he is a stock father ; 
and the Aramaean, European, and North African nations are 
his sons, and all descended from Adam only through him. 
The Noachic emigration is the first great epoch in the history 
of the race, after leaving the Adamic stock ; it is known in 
history by the title of the deluge ; but allegory delights in 
figures, and ancient tradition is eminently allegorical and 
enigmatic. There are other deluges besides those with wa- 
ter, and a world may be buried and removed from us without 
being submerged with rain. Deluges symbolize many other 
things. 

We have in the Noachian deluge a great historical pic- 
ture. 

(1.) It comprehends an emigration from India, the equa- 
torial home of the race, to the mountains of Armenia, near 



106 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. X. 

the head waters of the Euphrates ; from the torrid zone to 
the temperate zone ; from the east to a remote west ; from 
low lands, probably near the sea, to high lands, far in the 
interior. 

(2.) It comprehends a company emigration, consisting of 
four families, with provisions and domestic animals ; and the 
emigrants are the first and sole occupants of the country to 
which they come, far away from their old seats. 

(3.) It is a religious emigration to get away from wicked- 
ness and oppression, and establish a new and improved order 
of human society, and a centre of higher and better civiliza- 
tion than was before reached. 

(4.) It comprehends a voyage of 10 months before the 
company reaches its final destination. 

(5.) It comprehends a settlement alone, with no other hu- 
man beings around. 

These are all comprehended in the narrative, as a part of 
its meaning and significance, and are the only part of which 
we can be certain. If Noah and his sons started from India 
with their property and domestic animals for the express pur- 
pose of getting away from oppressive institutions, and found- 
ing seats of higher civilization on the high lands near the 
head waters of the Euphrates and Tigris, and were 10 months 
on their way before making a permanent settlement, we have 
a nucleus around which all the rest may have grown, and of 
which most of the rest is only an ornamental accompaniment 
and representation. 

I conclude, therefore, that the Noachic deluge is a Noachic 
emigration by sea and river navigation, and Noah the head 
stock man of a company of emigrants. 

That the deluge is not to be taken literally is evident from 
the following considerations, with others : — 

(1.) Such a flood is impossible ; there is not water enough 
in the world to produce it by many times the whole amount 
which the earth possesses. 



CHAF. X. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 107 

(2.) The means described are entirely inadequate ; a rain 
of 40 days and nights would not begin to produce such a 
deluge. 

(3.) There are no geological traces of such a deluge, but 
the contrary. 

(4.) The chest or box is entirely unsuitable for its purposes, 
showing that the traditionist drew it from imagination, and 
not from a reality. It provides no proper accommodations, 
and no proper ventilation for its animals or men, and they 
could not have lived in it a day, still less months. 

Noah's emigration may be compared to the early voyage 
of the Grecian heroes in the pursuit of the golden fleece ; 
that was a great affair in its day ; this was much greater. 
It may also be compared to the Abrahamic emigration, from 
which it differs in several respects : (1.) It is older ; (2.) It is 
the removal of the human race to a colder latitude, and im- 
proves its intellectual and physical powers ; (3.) It is a com- 
pany emigration, while that of Abraham is individual. Lot 
did not join him as a confederate, or subject, but accompa- 
nied him as an adventurer, acting independently, and seeking 
separate fortunes. 

Noah is supposed to have brought with him the Adamic 
traditions, embracing the religion of Jeva, and passed them 
on to Abraham. 

It is quite obvious that Noah is a stock man, and not an 
individual. He represents the last 300 years of the Adamic 
decade before the deluge. This is 15 generations, and quite 
too long an interval to be rilled by an individual. He proba- 
bly represents a sect in India that adopted the Jeva worship, 
dissented from prevailing superstiffons, and resisted the pre- 
vailing despotisms for an indefinite period, and then withdrew 
and sought new homes in which to serve God and develop 
their capabilities without hinderance from their neighbors and 
masters. Young truth is always in the minority, but he is a 
son of God, and is often hard to crush ; and if after long 



108 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. X. 

struggles he cannot live at home, he becomes a Noah or 
Abraham, and goes abroad in quest of new seats, and be- 
comes a founder of new cities and empires, and sometimes 
of new orders of civilization, and new races and worlds. 

An emigration not only removes a slip of the race to a vir- 
gin soil, but separates it from adverse influences growing out 
of superstitions and oppressions, and gives it an opportunity 
to develop itself under new conditions. 

The foregoing interpretation of the Scripture narrative, 
giving us a Noachic emigration from the east, is independent 
of all ethnic and race theories ; but it establishes two points 
with respect to race questions which are of great scientific 
interest: (1.) That the Noachic stock is not necessarily the 
entire stock of Europe and Africa. Its deluge carried no 
destruction of contemporary stocks in more western portions 
of the world, so that Noah is the father of Shemites, Hamites, 
and Japhethites, only, leaving the various negro races of 
Africa, the Indian races of America, and some of the north- 
ern European races, with independent origins. If this his- 
tory is correct, the Noachic race ought to have a correspon- 
ding race in India, or some other part of the east, of suffi- 
ciently vigorous stamina to have furnished the scions of the 
stock. Is there any such eastern race ? No reason appears 
why the old Hindoo race, which seems to be a native of that 
part of Asia, may not be of the same ancestry as the No- 
achic emigrants, and a successor of the original Adamic stock. 
Noah may have been an ancient Hindoo, and the Hindoo may 
be of the stock of Seth ; and if so, the Chinese may be of 
the stock of Cain, once the stronger, but now a weaker 
branch of the Adamic rafces. There is nothing in the pres- 
ent character of these races to prove that such may not be 
their historical relations to Adam and to each other. (2.) Races 
are subject to indefinite improvements by culture, and to 
indefinite and fatal injuries by imprudence, transgression, 
and neglect ; and race culture ought to be an object of indi- 



CHAP. XI. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 109 

vidual, family, and national attention. It deserves a place 
among liberal studies, and its principles and methods ought 
to be thoroughly investigated. Had the Hebrew records 
been properly read, the subject could not have been neglected 
as it has been. The absurd literalism and unquestioning 
credulity which have prevailed for 3000 years have consigned 
the great practical lessons of the early Hebrew traditions to 
oblivion, and robbed the world of inestimable benefits which 
more liberal inquiry would have secured. We may rise in- 
definitely towards God and immortals, or we may sink to 
perdition and annihilation as races, and pass away ; both des- 
tinies are before us as possible, and one of them we must 
accomplish. Portions of all races are continually perishing, 
and other portions improving and rising. It is not possible 
long to stand still ; the mighty potter has us on the wheel, 
and if we cannot be made into vessels of honor and life, we 
shall be made into vessels of dishonor and death. 

Ethnology and race science ought to abandon their absurd 
designation of negro races as Hamites. This designation 
unnecessarily perpetuates both error and malice, and is alike 
injurious to Hamites and negroes. Let all God's children 
have their dues, and their true historical positions. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Distribution of the Noachites and their Settlements; Geneal- 
ogy of the Western Nations. 

1. And these are the accounts of Noah's sons, Shem, 
Ham, and Japheth, and [of the] sons [who] were born to 
them after the deluge. Japheth's sons, Gomer, and Magog, 
and Madar, and Ion [Javan], and Thubal, and Meshech, and 
Thiras ; and Gomer's sons, Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and 
Thogarma ; and Ion's [Javan's] sons, Alisha and Tarshish, 
and the Kittians and Rodanans ; by these were the islands of 
10 



110 BIBLICAL THEOEIES. CHAP. XI. 

the nations divided, with their lands, a man for his tongue, 
for their families among their nations. 10 : 1-5. 

2. And Ham's sons were Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and 
Canaan ; and Gush's sons, Seba, and Havila, and Sabta, and 
Roma [Rome], and Sabteca; and Roma's sons, Sheba and 
Dedan. And Cush begat Nimrod ; he was the first mighty 
man in the earth, and was a mighty hunter before Jeva ; 
therefore it was said, like Nimrod the mighty hunter before 
Jeva. And the chief [cities] of his kingdom were Babel, and 
Arach, and Acad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From 
that land went forth Ashur, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth 
the city, and Calah and Resen between Nineveh and Caleh : 
she was a great city. And Mizraim begat the Lydians, and 
the Anamians, and the Lahabians, and the Naphtuchians, and 
the Pathrusians and Casluchians, from whom went out the 
Philistines, and Caphtonians. And Canaan begat Zidon, his 
first born, and Heth, and the Jebusites, and Amorites, and 
Girgashites, and Hivites, and Orkites, and Sinites, and Arad- 
ites, and Zemarites, and Hemathites ; and after the families 
were scattered, the Canaanites. And the boundary of the 
Canaanites was from Zidon, as you go to Gerar, as far as 
Gaza, as you go to Sodom, and Gomorra, and Adma, and 
Zeboim to Lasha. These are Ham's sons for their families, 
for their tongues, in their lands, in their nations. 6-20. 

3. And to Shem also were born [sons]. He is the father 
of all the sons of Eber, the older brother of Japheth. Shem's 
sons are Eilam, and Ashur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and 
Aram ; and Aram's sons, Uz, and Hul, and Gethur, and Mash. 
And Arphaxad begat Shalah, and Shalah begat Eber ; and 
to Eber were born two sons : the name of the first was Peleg, 
for in his days the earth was divided ; and the name of his 
brother Joktan ; and Joktan begat Almodad, and Shelaph, 
and Hazramaveth, and Jara, and Hadoram, and Auzal, and 
Dikla, and Obed, and Abimal, and Sheba, and Aupher 
[Ophir], and Havila, and Jobab. All these are Joktan's 






CHAP. XI. 



BIBLICAL THEORIES. Ill 



sons ; and their dwelling was from Mesha, as you go to 
Sepher, a mountain of the East. These are Shem's sons, 
for their families, for their tongues, in their lands, for their 
nations. 

These are the families of Noah's sons, for their generations, 
in their nations ; from these were separated the nations in 
the earth after the deluge. 

This is an interesting and valuable document. The He- 
brew traditionists could not take the history of all the world 
along with them ; the river was too broad and deep for their 
banks ; but in tracing their own history back to the Noachic 
settlement of the race in Armenia, they turn aside from their 
main purpose, and complete the Noachic history by giving us 
the origin of the other principal nations, and then leave them. 
Some of them we meet subsequently in the Hebrew and Greek 
annals ; some we never meet elsewhere ; they are introduced, 
and the stream of time bears no other trace of their existence 
on its surface ; they are immortal by their names, but not by 
their deeds, nor by their known descendants. Noah is the 
father of nations in three distinct lines. Hebrew tradition is 
fond of triads as well as decades ; it gives Adam three sons, 
Cain, Abel, and Seth ; Noah three, Shem, Ham, and Ja- 
pheth ; and Abraham three principal branches of his family, 
Ishmaelites, Lsaachites, and Keturians. It allows the Cain- 
ites to absorb the Abelites, and the Sethites ultimately eclipse 
the Cainites, and it has little favor for the Hamites, and dooms 
them in one of their branches to the eternal servitude of the 
Shemites and Japhethites. 

V. 1. Japheth's posterity loved the sea ; Gomer, Meshech, 
and Magog settled in the vicinity of the Black Sea, and Ion, 
Tarshish, and the Kittians and Rodians on the Mediterranean 
and its shores and islands, extending their settlements as far 
as Spain. Ion was the father of the Greeks in a part of 
Asia Minor, anciently called Ionia, and his descendants are 



112 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XI. 

still, by their immortal works, the masters and teachers of 
the western nations. The modern Greek stock is less dis- 
tinguished, but may yet be renovated. It is possible that 
Japheth was a class of sailors from the Noachic stock. 

V. 2. Cush, one of Ham's sons, settled and built up the 
ancient kingdom of Assyria, with Babylon, Nineveh, and 
other great empires of the east ; Mizraim, another of his 
sons, settled Egypt, and raised that kingdom at times to be 
the first of the earth's kingdoms. He gave his name to 
Egypt, which is called Mizraim in all the Hebrew books, and 
was only superseded by its modern Greek name after the 
Hebrew became a dead language. Nimrod, grandson of 
Ham by Cush, was the first of oriental heroes and mighty 
men, and his name became proverbial. Canaan, another 
son of Ham, was father of the Sidonians [Tyrians], Hittites, 
and Canaanites, called by the Greeks Phoenicians. 

V. 3. The Shemites, though the oldest branch of the 
Noachic family, are described last and most at large, as most 
nearly related to the Hebrew traditionist's purpose, and em- 
bracing their nation as one of its divisions. Shem is father 
of the Syrians, whose ancient title is Aramaeans, after Aram, 
one of Shem's sons ; also of the Elamites and a portion of 
the Assyrians, of the Ophirites, and some tribes of Northern 
and Western India, and also of Abraham and the Abrahamites. 
Many of these branches became mixed with others, and each 
great line of descent received slips and offshoots from other 
lines. The Creator does not favor exclusiveness ; he wishes 
all his children to be brothers^ and work together for the 
common good. 

A careful examination of this document shows very clearly 
that the negro races are not embraced among the descendants 
of Ham. A large portion of Ham's descendants settled in 
Asia, and built up the mightiest empires of ancient times in 
that part of the world. The Cushites of this document are 
not the Ethiopians of Africa, but Assyrians of Babylonia and 



CHAP. XII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 113 

Persia. Mizraim, one of Ham's four sons, goes to Egypt, 
and founds that ancient empire .from an oriental stock, and 
other northern tribes, leaving the African Cush, or Ethiopia, 
entirely unprovided for from the Ham stock. 

The carelessness of interpreters in extending the Ham 
stock so as to embrace the Ethiopians of Africa, is truly sur- 
prising, and shows how easy it is to commit the most egregious 
blunders under a bias. They misinterpreted the deluge, and 
made it effect the entire destruction of the human and animal 
races, and then had to supply the whole earth from Noah's 
chest : animals from his collection of animals, and men from 
his sons ; both of which are feats of little less difficulty than 
the accomplishment of new creations. Neither all the world's 
beasts or men can possibly have come from Noah's chest. 
Huge as it was, it was quite too diminutive to admit so great 
a family into its dungeon apartments, and was entirely with- 
out suitable accommodations to serve even as a decent coffin 
to bury them in, much less to give them a comfortable living 
lodging for the period of a year. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Shemite Decade. 

1. These are the accounts of Shem. Shem was 100 
years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the deluge ; 
and Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad 500 years, and begat 
sons and daughters. 11 : 10, 11. 

2. And Arphaxad lived 35 years, and begat Shelah ; and 
Arphaxad lived after he begat Shelah 430 years, and begat 
sons and daughters. 12, 13. 

3. And Shelah lived 30 years, and begat Eber ; and Shelah 
lived after he begat Eber 403 years, and begat sons and 
daughters. 14,15. 

4. And Eber lived 34 years, and begat Peleg ; and Eber 

10* 



114 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XII. 

lived after he begat Peleg 430 years, and begat sons and 
daughters. 16,17. 

5. And Peleg lived 30 years, and begat Ren; and Peleg 
lived after he begat Reu 209 years, and begat sons and 
daughters. 18, 19. 

6. And Reu lived 32 years, and begat Serug; and Reu 
lived after he begat Serug 207 years, and begat sons and 
daughters. 20,21. 

7. And Serug lived 30 years, and begat Nahor ; and Serug 
lived after he begat Nahor 200 years, and begat sons and 
daughters. 22,23. 

8. And Nahor lived 29 years, and begat Terah; and Nahor 
lived after he begat Terah 129 years, and begat sons and 
daughters. 24,25. 

9. And Terah lived 70 years, and begat Abram, Nahor, 
and Haran. These are the accounts of Terah : Terah begat 
Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot; and Haran 
died before Terah, his father, in the land of his nativity, in 
Ur of the Chaldeans. And Abram and Nahor took them 
wives : the name of Abram' s wife was Sarai, and the name 
of Nahor's wife Milcah, daughter of Haran, father of Milcah 
and father of Iscah. And Sarai was barren, and had no child ; 
and Terah took Abram his son, and Lot his son Haran's son, 
and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and 
they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldeans, to go 
to the land of Canaan ; and they went to Haran, and dwelt 
there ; and the days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah 
died in Haran. 26-32. 

10. Jhen Jeva said to Abram, Get you from your land and 
from the place of your nativity, and from the house of your 
fathers, to a land which I will show you, and I will make you 
a great nation, and bless you, and make your name great, and 
it shall be a blessing ; and I will bless them that bless you, 
and curse him that curses you, and by you shall all the 
families of the earth be blessed. Then Abram went forth 



CHAP. XII. 



BIBLICAL THEORIES. 



115 



as Jeva told him, and Lot went with him, and Abram was 
75 years old when he went from Haran. And Abram took 
Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their prop- 
erty which they had acquired, and the persons whom they 
had obtained in Haran, and went forth to go to the land of 
Canaan, and came to the land of Canaan ; and Abram passed 
through the land of Canaan to the place of Sichem, to the oak 
of the teacher, and the Canaanite was then in the land ; and 
Jeva appeared to Abram, and said, I will give this land to your 
posterity ; and he built an altar there for Jeva that appeared to 
him, and removed from there to a mountain east of Bethel, and 
pitched a tent, — Bethel was on the west, and Ai on the east, — 
and he built there an altar for Jeva, and called on the name of 
Jeva ; and Abram removed, continually going south. 12 : 1-9. 



Chronology of the Shemite Decade estimated from the Deluge. 



Shem., . . 
Arphaxad, 
Sheba, . . 
Eber, . . . 
Pelesr, . . 



2 

35 
30 
34 
30 



years. 



6. Reu, . . 

7. Serug, . 

8. Nahor, . 

9. Terah, . 
10. Abraham, 



32 years 
30 « 
29 " 
70 « 
100=392. 



Septuagint Account of this Decade. 



Shem, 

Arphaxad, . . . 
Cainan, . . . . 

Sala, 

Eber, 



2 years. 
135 
130 
130 
134 



Pheleg, 130 



7. Ragau, 132 years. 

8. Serug, 130 » 

9. Nahor, 179 " 

10. Therra, 70 " 

Abrahamic Series. 



1. Abraham, 



. 100=1272. 



Besides extending most of the times, the Septuagint inter- 
polates Cainan (Kinan) from the Adamic decade, where it 
occupies the third place, making the decade end with Terah, 
and putting Abraham at the head of the next series. This 
cannot have been accidental ; the precise object of it, how- 
ever, does not appear, unless it is to isolate Abraham, and 
give him greater prominence. 

Very little is gleaned from this field till we come to Abra- 



116 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XII. 

ham. The Shemite patriarchs give us their names, and the 
periods they represent, but report no progress. Their times 
are nearly a blank. But the race is not idle : Ion, of the 
stock of Japheth, founded the Greeks and Greek culture ; 
Mizraim, of the stock of Ham, founded Egypt and Egyptian 
culture ; Nimrod tried his Babel of universal empire, and 
failed in the plains of Shinar ; the Noachic races experimented 
largely on civil government, and on different modes and vari- 
eties of civilization. The Egyptians invented geometry and 
hieroglyphics : much was gained, but that much is little in 
comparison with what has been gained since, and still less in 
comparison with the infinite, after which the race aspires ; 
and the same is true now of all past gains. The moderns 
have made great additions to the acquisitions of the ancients ; 
but these are nothing in comparison with the infinite that is 
still unattained. 

The 100th year of Abraham takes us to the birth of Isaac, 
his successor in the principal of his three families. In the 
first, he was succeeded by Ishmael, in the second and principal 
one by Isaac, and in the last by Midian and other sons of 
Keturah ; his Hagar and Keturah families were Arabs. 

Haran, where Terah died, is also famous for the defeat and 
death of Crassus, a distinguished Roman general. That por- 
tion of Asia made the Romans much trouble, and its conquest 
cost them many bloody battles : the mountains love liberty, 
and often give it a refuge when it is elsewhere oppressed. 
Caesar says the love of liberty is natural to the human rac.e, 
but it is especially so to dwellers on the mountains. 

11. The remark, Then the Canaanite was in the land, is 
highly significant ; it implies that at the time when the docu- 
ment was written he was not there. This makes the docu- 
ment post-Mosaic ; the Canaanite was yet in the land till 
after the death of Moses. Joshua only expelled him in part ; 
his expulsion was never complete, but it became nearly so 
under Saul and David, the first two Hebrew kings. This 



CHAP. XII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 117 

document, therefore, cannot have originated earlier than the 
times of David, and is not a Mosaic document, as is generally 
supposed. To evade this conclusion, the advocates of the 
Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch suppose this and other ex- 
pressions of the kind scattered through it to be interpola- 
tions. This supposition is objectionable on two grounds. 
(1.) It impairs the credit of the document: if these interpo- 
lations are admitted on dogmatic grounds, others may be, and 
we have nothing reliable. (2.) There is nothing in the nar- 
rative inconsistent with these supposed interpolations, nor to 
indicate that the whole did not proceed from the same hand. 
(3.) There is no evidence in existence, internal or external, 
that any part of the document originated till after the expul- 
sion of the Canaanites from Palestine, and their extirpation 
by Joshua and his successors. I conclude, therefore, that 
the interpolation theory is a gratuitous assumption, and inad- 
missible ; and that the expression, Then the Canaanite was 
in the land, and other similar statements, determine the origin 
of these documents to be after the time of Moses, and not 
earlier than the times of Samuel and David. Other indica- 
tions point unequivocally to the same period as the earliest 
date allowable for the origin of these documents. All before 
is oral tradition. 

Bunsen, who gave much attention to ancient chronology, 
assigns 

The Adamic creation, B. C. 20,000 

Deluge, 11,000 to 10,000 

Shemite emigration, 10,000 

End of the priest-kings in Egypt, 7,231 

Nimrod, 7,000 

Origin of the great Chaldean empire in Babylonia 3,784 

Zoroaster between 3,500 and 3,000 

Founding of Babylon, 3,2,50 

Commencement of Tyrian chronology, 2,760 

The field of ancient chronology is yet imperfectly explored ; 
Hebrew traditions are not reliable, unless confirmed by cir- 



118 BIBLICAL THEOEIES. CHAP. XIII. 

jumstantial and collateral evidence. The Hellenic Hebrews 
nad no confidence in it 130 B. C, as appears from the Sep- 
tuagint, but repudiated and superseded it. It is a shadow 
without substance, and Christendom has given it far too much 
credit. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Babel of Universal Despotism first attempted by the 
Samites in Babylonia. 

1 . And all the earth was of one tongue and one language ; 
and when they removed from the east, they found a plain in 
the land of Shinar, and dwelt there. And they said, each 
one to his friend, Come, let us make bricks and burn a kiln, 
and let us have the brick for stone ; and they had bitumen for 
mortar ; and they said, Come, let us build us a city and tower, 
and [let] its top be in the heavens, that we may make us a 
name, lest we be scattered on the face of all the earth, n : 1-4. 

2. Then Jeva went down to see the city and tower which 
the sons of man builded ; and Jeva said, Behold, the people 
are one, and all of them have one tongue, and this they be- 
gin to do ; and now, nothing will be withheld from them of 
all that they desire to do. Come, let us go down and con- 
found their language, that they may not understand, one the 
language of his friend ; and Jeva scattered them thence over 
all the face of the earth ; and they ceased to build the city. 
Therefore he called her name Babel [confusion], for there 
Jeva confounded the language of all the earth ; and thence 
Jeva scattered them over the face of all the earth. 5-9. 

This allegory is partly historical and partly philosophical ; 
all history is philosophical ; man is a philosopher by virtue 
of his rational powers, and cannot stop with effects ; he must 
look for causes ; and the two are mingled in all his pictures. 
On a strict analysis, things themselves are found to be only 



CHAP. XIII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 119 

causes and reasons, and the prerequisite conditions of phe- 
nomena. With their accustomed simplicity, Jews and Chris- 
tians have interpreted this allegory literally, and been as little 
aware of its significance as they have been of the higher 
meaning of the previous allegories. The Mohammedans tell 
us that Nimrod built this tower to the great height of 7500 
feet, and that he intended to scale heaven and take possession 
of it by force against any resistance the gods might make ; 
but God came to see their building, and overthrew it, and the 
roof fell in, and overwhelmed the builders with exemplary 
punishment. 

The Greeks have a similar allegory. According to them, 
Titans, sons of the gods, conspired against Zeus, and endeav- 
ored to get into heaven, to dethrone him and seize his seat 
by piling mountains one on another, and climbing over 
them. Instead of confusion of tongues, they met thunderbolts 
from Zeus, and came back in a hurry. The Greek allegory 
has no connection with the confusion of tongues, and the 
scene is laid in Greece, not in Shinar ; but it represents for- 
cibly the folly of warring with the Supreme, and the danger 
attendant on the invasion of his prerogatives. 

What is the meaning of the Aramaean allegory ? What 
is the tower ? It is a universal despotism ; kingdoms arose 
early and were multiplied ; they grew out of the necessities 
"of the race, and were united under sovereigns for common 
defence, and also for the prosecution of other common objects. 
These kingdoms were small and weak, and differently organ- 
ized and administered. In the plains of Shinar the first 
attempt was made to extend their monarchy and make it uni- 
versal. This is the prerogative of Jeva, and the attempt to 
attain it, climbing into heaven to get possession of his seat. 
The metropolis of the Assyrian empire was the literal Babel, 
or Babylon ; Babylon is the Greek name of Babel ; the He- 
brews always call the city Babel. 

Language is never stationary on the lips ; it is only when 



120 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XIII. 

it passes away, and is laid up in books, that it ceases to 
change. Different localities make different changes, and in 
a few centuries an existing form of speech passes away, and 
a different one succeeds it. Diversities of language arise 
from separation and isolation, and become means of still 
greater isolation, and wider and more perfect separations. 

Great inconveniences attend the use of different languages ; 
they obstruct trade and social intercourse, and present great 
obstacles to the general diffusion of knowledge ; but they 
have some conveniences, and answer some beneficial purposes. 

The ancient languages are among the most valuable mon- 
uments of history, and enable us to determine many facts 
which otherwise would be incapable of determination. For 
this purpose all their changes and variations are important ; 
the superior languages of the Aramaean races, first spoken, 
then written, have been a principal cause of the higher civiliza- 
tion and greater improvement of those races in other respects. 

During long periods, the predominant tendencies of all 
races, Adamic and not Adamic, have been to separations and 
divisions. Most of the ancient religions were instruments of 
separation and division. Judaism, the highest and noblest 
of all the ancient systems, was national and exclusive, and 
was submitted ,to the administration of a hereditary priest- 
hood, who had their living by its public services. 

Christianity assumed a new character ; it proposed itself* 
for all men, and made God the kind and loving Father of all, 
able and willing to take care of them. This, however, has 
been tried for ages to be monopolized, and restricted to arbi- 
trary modes of development. It scorns monopoly ; it is a 
science embracing a wide department of knowledge, and can- 
not be monopolized ; it is an act of right living, and cannot 
be monopolized ; every man may live right that pleases, and 
the right is open to all ; no entrance fee is charged, and no 
toll asked ; whoever will, may walk with God, and travel 
the highway of his casting up, not narrow and confined, not 



CHAP. XIII. BIBLICAL THE0KIES. 121 

obscure, broad as the universe, and irradiated with, all its 
suns, but especially with the light of the eternal sun. 

The tower of Babel considered as a universal despotism is 
something more than a pile of brick 7500 feet high. This 
tower has been several times attempted to be built, and has 
as often been overthrown. The builders have no difficulty 
in starting it and getting up a few hundred feet ; but when 
they begin to hit the moon, its jagged rocks prove incon- 
venient neighbors, and their turrets are apt to fall over. But 
this is not the worst ; men might avoid the moon altogether, 
and get up among the stars by another way ; but when they 
get by the moon they are apt to disagree among themselves, 
and not to understand each other. They tried for ages to 
get up a universal despotism in the fertile plains of Shinar, 
and toiled like Titans in the work ; but they did not suc- 
ceed : the Hebrews took up the idea, and have been looking 
for their son of David to come and help them on with it more 
than 2000 years, till their sight is nearly failing them, and 
hope also : the Greeks caught the illusion, and tried their hand 
at it ; and they could not understand each other sufficiently 
to get along ; they conquered much of the world, but could 
not harmonize it and keep it together : the Romans took 
up the scheme in still greater earnest, and for a time flattered 
themselves that they were succeeding : they went far beyond 
the Shinarites, and far beyond the Greeks ; but misunder- 
standings arose among them, and their iron rule was crushed, 
and themselves scattered and abased. After all these fail- 
ures, the church of Rome rallied for one more effort of the 
same kind, and undertook to build up a priestly Babel, and 
subject the world to a religious despotism. Profiting by all 
the previous failures, she adopted new methods, and, prose- 
cuting them with more than Roman energy, thought she must 
prevail. She made herself a colossal object, and is such to- 
day; but heaven spurns her control above, anci earth defies 
her power below. This whole contest is a war of the Titans 
11 



122 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XIV. 

against Zeus ; it is an effort to dethrone the Almighty, and 
establish creature rule in the place of the rule of the Creator ; 
it is an invasion of the rights and liberties of man, and an 
imprisonment of his free thought. But thought scorns pris- 
ons and chains, and breaks through bolts and bars, and claims 
creation for his range ; he flies like an eagle, he soars like a 
god, and leaves in contempt his dungeons and chains. 

Christian sects and denominations practise much Babel- 
building on a small scale, with the same disastrous misun- 
derstandings, divisions, and dispersions, that afflicted the 
Babel-builders of Shinar. Is it not best to give it up, and be 
content to tolerate the world in the freedom accorded to it by 
the supreme Father ? Is not God's universal monarchy suf- 
ficient ? 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Abrahamic Traditions, their Allegorical Character. 

1. Abraham, after Noah, is the next great light of the 
Hebrew traditions. History first finds him in Ur of Chaldea, 
in the vicinity of the Noachic settlements, apparently the old- 
est of three brothers ; his father was Terah, the ninth from 
Shem, and his two brothers, Nahor and Haran. Haran died 
early, and was succeeded by Lot, who was for a time an asso- 
ciate with Abraham, but left him to seek greater fortunes as 
an independent adventurer, previous to the destruction of 
Sodom and Gomorrah. Terah, Abraham's father, commenced 
the emigration to Canaan with Abraham and Nahor, and 
came as far as Haran, where he stopped and settled. From 
this place Jeva told Abraham to go on to Canaan, and prom- 
ised to make a great nation of him, and to make him a great 
blessing to the Adamic family ; he also promised to stand by 
him and protect him, which is signified by blessing those that 
blessed him, and cursing those that cursed him. 

2. How Jeva made these indications to Abraham we are 



CHAP. XIV. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 123 

not informed, and, in the absence of specific information, are 
only authorized to infer that he did it in the ordinary way in 
which God directs and encourages good men in his service, 
and in the service of the world ; there is no occasion to call 
in a miracle. A pious emigrant goes to a new country de- 
pending on the protection of God, and devising the good of 
the world. 

Abram came to the land of Canaan, and passed through 
it. 12:7, And Jeva appeared to Abram, and said, I will 
give this land to your posterity ; and he built there an altar 
to Jeva, who appeared to him. Here is the second altar in 
history ; the first was built by Noah, the last of the Adamic 
decade, and this is built by Abraham, the last of the Shem- 
ite decade, after an interval of 427 years. Noah and Abraham 
were not only worshippers of God, but sacrificers ; whence 
they derived their sacrificial system history says not. Both 
these sacrifices appear to be eucharistic, not propitiatory, still 
less expiatory. 

3. No circumstances of this appearance of Jeva to Abra- 
ham are mentioned. We have simply the fact of an ap- 
pearance, and a promise, I will give this land to your pos- 
terity. Is it credible as a fact ? Certainly not. It has not 
a single element of credibility as a fact, and must be chal- 
lenged by honest and thorough interpretation, and discarded 
as a fact. Where is the proof that it is a fact ? The tradition ? 
The tradition is a mixed narrative of fact and fiction. But 
there are two evidences that it is a fiction. (1.) It is not 
God's known method to appear to men with such messages, 
nor to make such presents unconditionally. He has made 
the world for all his children, Abrahamites and Canaanites 
alike, and he gives all lands to all, according to general and 
universally applying laws, and not arbitrarily. (2.) God has 
not done as he is related to have promised. The Jacobites 
took forcible possession of Canaan, and held a large part of 
it from the times of Joshua to the times of Titus, with the 



124 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XIV. 

exception of the period of the Babylonian exile. Since the 
times of Titus, A. D. 70, God has providentially set the seal 
of his denial on this supposed promise. The promise is un- 
conditional, and God's denial of it is explicit and peremptory. 
How, then, is this to be understood ? Is it a lie ? No, it is 
a mistake. The piety of Abraham was deemed entitled to 
ample rewards ; he perhaps selected Canaan as the home of 
his posterity, and wished them to stay there, and begged of 
Jeva that privilege ; and he had no objection to give it to 
them conditionally ; but he gives no absolute titles to lands. 
His lands are all given away on principle, and in conformity 
with general laws, and in conformity with those laws he was 
entirely willing that the Abrahamites should have Canaan and- 
keep it forever ; and he was just as willing that they should 
have Greece, or Italy, or Britain. 

4. I conclude, therefore, that this supposed absolute gift 
of Canaan to the Abrahamites was a mistake ; it is in con- 
tradiction to God's universal laws ; and such a gift would be 
wrong ; but God cannot do wrong. Having given his lands 
to all his children by general laws, he cannot resume the gift 
and make a second distribution on arbitrary principles. No 
man and no race can get an absolute title to a foot of God's 
lands forever ; they can only be entitled to them while they 
can use them and defend them. Use even does not make a 
title to land absolute and perfect unless the user can defend 
it. Hence the necessity of the institution of nations ; men 
cannot protect themselves nor hold their lands singly ; they 
must combine together and help one another. 

5. This is the first instance in which the absolute gift of 
Canaan to the Abrahamites appears in Hebrew tradition ; it 
often reappears, but there is no proof that it belongs to the 
time of Abraham. If Abraham generally lived in Canaan, 
and wished his posterity to remain there, these fictions may 
have been the growth of a later age. If they were not, then 
Abraham himself must have been in the mistake into which 



CHAP. XIV. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 125 

his descendants fell, in respect to God's methods of dealing 
with his creatures. It is conceivable that the mistake origi- 
nated with Abraham, as the whole thing is imputed to him ; 
but it is not the less a mistake if it did. God never prom- 
ised away Canaan to any human posterity ; this part and 
parcel of the world is for every man living to go and pos- 
sess, if he pleases, without any discrimination of blood or 
lineage. 

6. It has been generally supposed that Joshua took pos- 
session of Canaan for the Hebrews in virtue of this deed of 
gift ; but the history of the conquest does not support this 
supposition. The setting up of a claim to Canaan on the 
ground of this gift is an afterthought, of which Joshua and 
his contemporaries appear to be entirely ignorant. Joshua 
took possession of Canaan by virtue of the stronger arm and 
superior discipline of his forces ; and also by virtue of the 
support of Jeva. accorded to the Hebrews as his people, and 
against the Canaanites as not his people, and having no inter- 
est in his favor. No claim is instituted by Joshua to Canaan, 
because God had promised it to the Abrahamites ; neither is 
an indefinite promise ever valid. A promise to pay $1000 is 
not worth a cent ; the promise must have some condition ; it 
must specify some time or condition when the payment shall 
be made. This promise to Abraham is like a note without 
conditions — never collectible. God gives no such notes. 

7. Some may imagine that the correction of this error 
threatens some discredit to the Abrahamic religion. But it 
does not in the least ; it relieves that religion from a gross 
and pernicious delusion, that has been the curse of the Abra- 
hamic race, and one of the occasions of its humiliating fall 
from the high position it once attained in the van of the No- 
achic races. The dependence of the Jews on God's sup- 
posed partiality to them on account of Abraham, was one of 
the causes of their ruin as a nation. God has no special 
favorites ; he cannot have : all the good are his favorites, in 

11* 



126 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XIV. 

proportion to their goodness ; all the evil are objects of his 
disfavor, in proportion to their wickedness. 

8. In 13 : 14, we are told that Abraham, after his sojourn 
in Egypt, revisited the place of the altar which he had pre- 
viously built in Bethel, and called there on the name of Jeva ; 
this appears to have been his constant practice. He and Lot 
are now wealthy, and Lot leaves him about 1918 B. C, and 
goes to Sodom, to still further improve his fortunes. Jeva 
on this occasion had another talk with Abraham, and says, 
13 : 14, Lift up now your eyes and see, from the place where 
you are, north and south, and east and west, for all the land 
that you see will I give you and your posterity forever. The 
manner of this appearance is not described, nor the mode of 
communication adopted by Jeva. 

The fictitious character of the transaction is clearly proved 
by the unconditional character of the promise and its non- 
fulfilment. The other part of this promise (13 : 16), And I will 
make your posterity like the dust of the earth, as to which, 
if a man can number the dusts of the earth, your posterity 
also shall be numbered, has been in a degree fulfilled ; the 
Abrahamites have been extremely numerous. 

9. In Gen. 14, we have an account of Chedarlomer, king 
of Elam, and others, whom Abraham vanquishes with a small 
force, and from whom he delivers the country. Abraham's 
means seem entirely disproportionate to so great and com- 
plete a conquest ; but the account must be taken for what it 
is worth. A pious and good man makes a prompt and 
spirited soldier, and sometimes achieves wonders. Mel- 
chizedec was chief of the city of Salem, probably containing 
a few hundred people. He appears here as a pious and good 
man, and a friend of Abraham, and also as a priest of "p^ J>», 
Al Olion, Mighty High One. This is the first appearance 
of these titles in the Hebrew books, and they are used to 
define the priestly office of Melchizedec. This also is the 
first instance in Hebrew traditions of the word "pS, priest. 



CHAP. XIV. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 127 

Melchizedec blesses Abraham by Al Olion, possessor of 
heaven and earth, not by Jeva, and he blesses Al Olion for 
delivering Abraham's enemies into his hand ; and in the 
course of the narrative (v. 22), Abraham says, I have lifted 
up my hand to Jeva Al Olion, possessor of heaven and earth, 
etc. Abraham is here made to identify Jeva with Al Olion, 
and to make him possessor of heaven and earth : this dis- 
tinguishes him broadly from inferior gods. Abraham paid 
Melchizedec a tenth of all [his spoils]. On what account 
this was given is not said. Abraham does not appear to 
have been subject to any of the petty chiefs of Canaan. He 
was both the civil and religious head of his community, and 
lived as an independent nomadic chief wherever he could 
find accommodations for his people and property. He owed 
nothing to Melchizedec either as king of Salem or priest of 
Al Olion. His Jeva, according to the narrative, was Al 
Olion, possessor of heaven and earth, and he admitted no 
priestly mediation between himself and his God. Besides, 
the spoils were not his, and he does not set up any claim to 
them, but surrenders the property to its lawful owners. Why 
should this property pay a tax of a tenth to Melchizedec, 
chief of the village of Salem and priest of Al Olion ? Mel- 
chizedec' s office of chief of Salem gives him no claim to a 
tenth of that property, and just as little does his office as 
priest of Al Olion give him any such claim. 

10. I conclude, therefore, that this may be a mistake of 
the traditionists. After the institution of priests among the 
Hebrews in the time of Moses, they paid their priests a tenth 
of their incomes, whether the spoils of war or the products 
of the field ; and finding Melchizedec called a priest, the 
traditionists perhaps gave him this tribute from Abraham 
by a mistake. Neither can we be entirely certain of the 
priestly character of Melchizedec ; to this time the insti- 
tution of priests is yet unknown to Hebrew history. In 
this chapter both kings and priests make their first appear- 



128 BIBLICAL THEOKIES. CHAP. XIV. 

ance on the stage of Hebrew tradition ; neither the Adamic 
nor Noachic decade produced any kings or priests. Neither 
office was thought of by the Adamites or Noachites so far as 
the traditions show. But now in the time of Abraham, 1913 
B. C, we have a number of kings brought on the stage of 
history, and one of them a priest of Al Olion ; after this we 
hear no more of priests till 1715 B. C. (41 : 50), when Joseph 
in Egypt had sons born to him by Asenath, daughter of 
Poti-phera, priest of On (Heliopolis). This city was cele- 
brated for the worship and temple of the sun, which enters 
into its Greek name. The Abrahamites had no priests till 
the time of Moses, and no permanent king till the time of 
Saul, B. C. 1095. Aaron is the first Hebrew priest, and Saul 
the first accepted Hebrew king. Priests were instituted early 
in Egypt. They do not appear to be an Aramsean invention, 
still less a divine institution. The history of the office 
presents many reasons to doubt whether the ancient priests 
in all nations were not, on the whole, a curse to, the world, 
instead of serving it. Among the Greeks and Romans they 
were insignificant ; they never did any thing for the advance- 
ment of religion among the Hebrews ; the only Hebrew 
ministers of progress were the prophets. 

11. Christ instituted no priests, and his Christianity recog- 
nizes none. Christ's ministers are teachers after the example 
of their Master. The assumption of a priestly character by 
the ministers of the ancient churches was a departure from 
the Christianity of the earliest ages, and a departure from the 
highest expediency. Had Moses never instituted a priest- 
hood, as far as appears, it would have been better for the 
Hebrew nation and its religion. 

12. Gen. 15 is as follows : — 

After these things came the word of Jeva to Abram in 
a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram ; I am your shield and your 
exceedingly great reward ; and Abram said, My Lord Jeva, 
what will you give me when I go childless, and the possessor 



CHAP. XIV. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 129 

of my house is Aliezer of Damascus ? And Abram said, 
Behold, you have not given me a child ; and, behold, a son 
of my house is my heir. And, behold, the word of Jeva 
came to him, saying, This [man] shall not be your heir, but 
he that shall come forth from your bowels shall be your heir ; 
and he led him out, and said, Look now to the heavens, and 
count the stars, if you can count them ; and he said to him, 
Thus shall your posterity be ; and he believed Jeva, and he 
accounted it to him a righteousness. 15 : 1-8. 

And he said to him, I am Jeva, who brought you from Ur 
of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it. And he 
said, My Lord Jeva, by what shall I know that I shall pos- 
sess it ? And he said to him, Take me a three years' old 
heifer, and a three years' old goat, and a three years' old ram, 
and a turtle dove, and a young dove. And he took him all 
these, and divided them in the middle, and set one part against 
the other ; but the birds he divided not. When the birds of 
prey came down on the bodies, Abram puffed them away, and 
the sun was to set ; and a deep sleep fell on Abram, and, 
behold, a horror of great darkness fell on him, and said to 
Abram, Know surely that your posterity shall be a stranger 
in a land not theirs, and they shall make them serve, and 
afflict them 400 years. Then I also will judge the nation 
that shall make them serve, and afterwards they shall come 
forth with great possessions. But you shall go to your fathers 
in peace ; you shall be buried in a good old age ; and in the 
fourth generation they shall return here, for the wickedness 
of the Amorites is not yet full. When the sun went down, 
and it was dark, then, behold, there was a smoking furnace 
and a lamp of fire Avhich passed between these pieces. On 
that day Jeva cut a covenant with Abram, saying, To your 
posterity will I give this land, from the river of Mizraim 
[Egypt] to the great river, the river Pherath [Euphrates], 
the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and Kadmonites, and the 
Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaites, and the Amon- 



130 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XIV. 

ites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebu- 
sites. 

13. Here is the first instance of the use of the word cov- 
enant to denote God's arrangement with Abraham. Compacts 
were not yet made by writing ; they were made orally, and, 
when it was necessary, witnessed ; and sacrifices were also 
killed, and peculiar ceremonies performed with them ; cutting 
the sacrifices was making the covenant. 

This is the second recorded covenant of God with men. 
The first was made with Noah, to assure him that he should 
be safe from another flood. (9 : 8-17.) Up to this time God 
has given Abraham promises to depend upon, but now he 
makes a formal covenant with him ; and 1 yet, in the com- 
mencement of the narrative, the transaction is said to have 
transpired in a vision. Covenants cannot be made in visions : 
visions are only a species of dreams, and a covenant made in 
a vision is only a dream that a covenant is made, not a reality. 
In this transaction God is made to predict the sojourn and 
oppression of the Abrahamites in Egypt, and their deliver- 
ance, after which they were to have the whole land of Canaan. 
They never had, the whole land of Canaan. The Phoenicians 
always held Tyre, Zidon, and other territory around those cities, 
and for nearly 1800 years they have had no part of the country. 

14. Is this a real transaction or an allegory? It cannot 
be a real transaction, for the following reasons : — 

(1.) The covenant is not of a kind that God can with pro- 
priety make with his creatures. It is the unconditional giv- 
ing of a country to a certain race forever, with the exception 
of the 400 years to be spent in Egypt. God disposes of all 
his lands by other laws. 

(2.) It has not been fulfilled. For the last 1800 years the 
Hebrews have been exiled from that land entirely, and they 
never possessed all of it, the Phoenicians having always occu- 
pied it with them. 

(3.) The making of such a formal covenant is derogatory 






CHAP. XIV. BIBLICAL THEOEIES. 131 

to the character of God. He does not need to give any such 
assurances to his creatures ; if he should see fit to give us 
his word, it might be necessary for him to certify it to us as 
being his word ; but further than this it would want no con- 
firmation, and could receive none. The forms of human con- 
ventions and compacts would add no force to God's wwd, and 
command for it no additional confidence. Such a covenant 
with God, with the formalities of a transaction with man, is 
an absurdity. 

15. There can be no doubt, therefore, that this covenant 
is fictitious, and to take it for a reality is to misinterpret it. 
It is not given us as a reality, but as fiction, and ought to be 
received as such. God has no occasion to make covenants 
with men, and men have no occasion to ask him for covenants. 
Fathers do not make covenants with their children ; God is a 
father, and we are his children ; kings who possess absolute 
authority sometimes give constitutions to their subjects, by 
which they bind themselves to act in certain modes : God is 
eternal wisdom, love, and mercy, and does not need to be 
bound to do his duty, if he could be ; but he cannot : binding 
is not possible to him, because he is supreme. 

There can be no binding without penalties, and authorities 
and powers to enforce obligation. What penalties can God 
incur, and what authorities and powers are to enforce obliga- 
tions on him ? 

16. Christ is not reported to have mentioned the word 
covenant as applicable to any arrangement between God and 
men, except in the formula for the administration of the 
Lord's Supper, where it is equivalent to law or dispensation. 
God gives law to his creatures, and, providentially, dispensa- 
tions or modes of culture. 

17. Having found that this covenant is fictitious, it is 
proper to ask, Where did it originate, and who is its author ? 
To this I reply, It did not originate in the time of Abraham, 
and of course did not originate with him ; it can only be 



132 BIBLICAL THEOEIES. CHAP. XIV. 

supposed to originate with him on the supposition that the 
narrative is one of facts. As a fiction, its origin must have 
been subsequent to the return from Egypt to Canaan. Its 
origin as a fiction is possible at any time after the return of 
the Abrahamites from Egypt to Canaan, but at no time before. 
Wha^fras the object of this fiction ? To represent God's 
purposes in respect to the Abrahamites, according to the views 
then taken of them by pious Jews, and to encourage the 
faith and hope of the nation. 

18. Abraham's eldest son is Ishmael, by Hagar, an Egyp- 
tian servant of his wife Sarah. This is generally taken lit- 
erally. Of the correctness of its literal interpretation there 
is some reason to doubt ; much of the account is allegorical. 
Abraham himself has much the appearance of a stock man, 
like the members of the Adamic decade. His chronological 
period of 100 years is too long for an individual. Early 
tradition had not yet learned any way to deal with stocks 
and tribes, but to personify them, and represent them as indi- 
viduals. The Adam of the Adamic traditions comprehends 
many Adams, the Noah many Noahs, and the Abraham ap- 
pears to comprehend several Abrahams. 

One of these individuals married an Egyptian, and founded 
the Arab tribe of the Ishmaelites, which is represented by 
the single name of Ishmael. The founding of this new tribe 
occurred when Abraham was 86 years old, that is, in the 
86th year of the Abrahamic era. The domestic difficulty in 
respect to Hagar may mean considerably more than is found 
in the literal sense of the narrative. 

19. Gen. 17 gives us an account of another appearance 
of Jeva to Abraham, on which occasion he makes himself 
known to him as Al Shadai, Mighty One, Almighty, or the 
Omnipotent. This is the earliest appearance of the title 
Shadai in history, and the second occasion of the use of Al : 
both terms originate in the Abrahamic period, and show the 
progress of theology ; new ideas require new terms. 



CHAP. Xiv\ BIBLICAL THEORIES. 133 

20. The substance of the covenant made at this time is 
the same as that of Gen. 15. It is forever; it gives all the 
land of Canaan for a possession, and Jeva" engages to be the 
God of Abraham and his posterity ; and kings, which, accord- 
ing to the stock style of the narrative, signify dynasties, 
successions of kings, were to descend from him ; and the 
engagement is sealed by the bloody rite of circumcision im- 
posed on Abraham and his posterity ; and in the 99th year 
of the Abrahamic era Abraham and Ishmael receive the rite. 
Here is the introduction of a new and bloody institute, un- 
known to previous times. The new institution is the seal of 
a special covenant of Jeva to make Abraham the father of 
many nations and some dynasties, and give his posterity all 
the land of Canaan forever. The nation of the Ismaelites is 
already founded ; other nationalities are to come ; and, as 
usually happens, the best does not come first ; Ishmael, first 
born of Abrahamic nations, is far exceeded by Isaac. 

21. After what has been said of the previous covenant, 
the fictitious character of this transaction scarcely needs to 
be argued. (1.) It departs from the established and known 
methods of God, which are not to appear to men under per- 
sonal and limited forms, but to communicate with them in 
his own proper person as an infinite Spirit, pervading all space. 
(2.) It makes God promise what he could not promise, and 
cannot now — the absolute gift of a country to a particular race. 
(3.) It makes God promise what he has not performed. He 
has not given the whole land of Canaan to the Abrahamites. 
(4.) It makes God give a sign of his fidelity and veracity that 
is not pertinent, and cannot be admitted. God's veracity and 
fidelity can have no confirmations. His word, if he is pleased 
to give it, requires to be proved, like other words ; but it re- 
quires nothing more, and can have nothing more. Men may 
give pledges, and put themselves under penalties, to do as 
they say ; but God is not a man, and can neither give pledges 
that will bind him, nor be put under penalties that will com- 

12 



134 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XIV. 

pel him to keep his word. (5.) The sign is indecent, and is 
unworthy either of God or man. Its introduction as a solemn 
religious ordinance is a phenomenon yet without a rational 
explanation ; the literal explanation of the tradition cannot 
be accepted, and no other appears. It stands out in history 
as an institution, in which man is supposed to honor his 
Creator by marring and maiming his own person ; and though 
a man may spare a little flesh or piece of skin from different 
localities, and experience no perceptible inconvenience from 
the loss, it is still a loss, and the work of his Creator is 
marred. Such marks are only appropriate to slaves, on whom 
it has been customary to set them in all ages, as men mark 
some species of domestic animals. 

22. There is some reason to suspect that Hebrew tradition 
is in fault in ascribing circumcision to Abraham, as well as 
in ascribing it to God. It is very clear that God is not its 
author ; and if this authority ascribes it to God erroneously, 
it may do so to Abraham ; and the rite may have a much less 
honorable pedigree. May it not have originated in Egypt, 
and have been imposed during the Egyptian oppressions as 
a badge of ignominious servitude, and not as a seal of God's 
mercy ? The previous tradition makes the sojourn in Egypt 
400 years, and four generations. An Abrahamic generation 
was 100 years ; some late Egyptologists make it longer. 
During this time they were greatly oppressed, and the male 
children not only treated with indignity and cruelty, but often 
actually murdered, to prevent them from multiplying too fast 
for the safety of their masters. A fit origin for this institu- 
tion may be found in these persecutions, in which a slight 
maiming of the flesh and skin would easily be' accepted, 
rather than death, for a male child. And in a period of 
darkness and superstition, the Hebrew masters may have 
deemed it proper to convert their shame and humiliation 
into, a glory, and to have attributed it to God and Abraham. 
Such an origin is not impossible ; the divine origin of the 



CHAP. XIV. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 135 

rite is, and its voluntary institution by Abraham scarcely 
less so. It has no fitness to recommend it to the favor of a 
good man, nor to induce a good man to impose it on his de- 
scendants. It neither improved the body nor the soul. But 
if first imposed as a badge of shame and subjection, and sub- 
mitted to from necessity, and then glorified as the only way 
left for injured and degraded humanity to relieve itself from 
the ' intolerable humiliation, it might afterwards become a 
symbol of real glory. Such a symbol is the cross, naturally 
infamous, but by association glorious. 

23. Gen. 18 gives us an explicit statement of a visit of 
gods to men. The persons were not appearances from an 
invisible state, but visitors from the upper world in their own 
proper form, The gods of this age were not invisible beings, 
nor spiritual, but as material and substantial as men, and 
were only a higher and mightier kind of men, living upon 
the other side of the firmament, just above the sun and moon, 
and a few miles above the clouds. Three of these firmament 
men stand by Abraham as he sits in his tent door, not in the 
cool of the day, but in the heat of the day ; and he invites 
them in, and entertains them in the best style of oriental hos- 
pitality. He begs them to take a little water for their feet, 
and a little mouthful for their stomachs, and they do not 
refuse. The fatted calf is killed in a hurry, and a sumptu- 
ous feast is spread for the guests under the shade of a tree ; 
more than a substitute for the modern dining room, and little 
short of the dignity of the modern parlor. Abraham does 
not sit down with them ; he stands and waits upon them as 
their host, too proud and happy to have the honor of their 
visit to his tent. 

24. Then follows the reward of his hospitality : when a 
prince accommodates himself with a supper at the table of a 
subject, he generally leaves some acknowledgment on the 
table, or slips a gold piece or a jewel into the hand of a child, 
as a compensation for the benefit, and an acknowledgment 



136 BIBLICAL THEOEIES. CHAP. XIY. 

not unworthy of the receiver ; so here, these three gods do 
not leave their host without a blessing. He has given them 
a right generous reception : what shall they do for hrni ? He 
has no child by his long- cherished Sarah ; they will give him 
a son. This is indeed godlike ; they could not give him a 
more welcome favor ; and Sarah laughs aloud behind the tent 
door where she happens to overhear. Oriental prudence and 
caution did not allow her to come before the door. The, 
strangers interpret Sarah's laugh as a sign of incredulity, and 
rebuke it, but remind Abraham with truly oriental sim- 
plicity, that God is mighty. When they leave they go in the 
direction of Sodom, and Abraham accompanies them a rea- 
sonable distance on the way. Jeva, who appears by this cir- 
cumstance to be the chief of the three, now tells Abraham 
that he has heard a bad report of Sodom, and that he is going 
to see it, and to know whether they have done according to 
the complaint that has come up to him. Abraham under- 
stands this as an intimation that if things on examination 
turn out as bad as reported, Jeva intends to resort to severe 
measures with that city, and ventures to intercede on account 
of the righteous men in it, and obtains a promise that if Jeva 
finds ten righteous men he will spare it. 

25. The scene now changes, and two angels come to Sodom 
and avail themselves of the hospitalities of Lot, to stay with 
him for the night ; they are two of the three that had previ- 
ously visited Abraham. Jeva is left behind talking with 
Abraham, and has not got along ; or he has concluded to go 
back to heaven, and leave the whole business of the visitation 
of Sodom to these servants. We hear no more of Jeva ; but 
his angels are equal to their task, and need no helper. (19 : 13.) 
They accept water for their feet, and partake of the feast 
which Lot spreads for them ; but before they had retired to 
their couches for the night, the men of Sodom, old and young, 
were after them for Sodomite abuse. Sodomy was their great 
and more than beastly sin ; and they wish to practise it on 
*he angels of Jeva. 






CHAP. XIV. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 137 

26. We are in the field of allegory, and are allowed to un- 
derstand this as allegorical ; but it is not the less significant. 
It teaches that sodomy is an awful sin, -and that the subjects 
of it may become so blind and silly as to attempt it on ob- 
jects that will turn upon them like angels of Jeva, and over- 
whelm them with sudden and awful destruction. It may 
teach other lessons, in which it represents other vices of the 
flesh. Lot's infamous proposal to surrender his daughters to 
this mob for the protection of the strangers must be inter- 
preted as allegorical : the case was desperate, and he knew 
not what to do ; and any thing must be surrendered rather 
than suffer the angels of Jeva to be insulted with the foulest 
of all the possible abuses of humanity in his tent. 

27. Then follows the plague of blindness for the night, and 
the storm of fire and burning sulphur in the morning, by which 
the guilty Sodomites were duly punished. Lot escaped with 
his daughters, but lost his wife ; the Hebrews had a bad 
opinion of women, and the traditionist does not deem Lot's 
wife worthy to escape this awful catastrophe. She was prob- 
ably infected with the vices of the city. 

28. The next year Isaac is born, and in due time he is 
weaned, and Hagar and her son banished at the demand of 
Sarah. The Abraham of this period withdraws his favor 
from his colony by an Egyptian mother, and bestows it on 
one by his Aramaean wife, a woman of higher culture and 
better stock. 

29. After various additional fortunes (21 : 33), Abraham 
planted a tamarisk in Beersheba, perhaps a number of them, 
and called there on .the name of Jeva Al Olion, Jeva the 
Mighty One, and sojourned long in the land of the Philis- 
tines. While here we have the remarkable transaction of 
the sacrifice of Isaac. God (Alohim) demands the sacrifice 
as a trial of Abraham's faith. He has already been subjected 
to some trials, but one more is deemed necessary to set his 
virtues in the strongest light. He is a servant of God: will 

12 * 



138 BIBLICAL THEOKLES. CHAP. XIV. 

he obey implicitly ? will he follow God in the dark ? To test 
this, he is required to sacrifice his favorite son. This, like 
the rest, has been usually taken as a literal fact ; its absurdity 
is apparent at a glance ; it neither honors God nor his ser- 
vant, and is an invention only possible in a period of great 
darkness and ignorance. It may, however, represent a great 
fact in the infancy of the Isaachic race ; as it is not an unfit 
type of many that have marked its subsequent years. It 
may have been threatened with destruction, and at the last 
moment rescued from the knife and preserved ; and this may 
be its allegoric memorial ; or the individual Isaac may have 
encountered some peril from sickness or accident, from which 
he was providentially delivered. 

30. On the occasion of Abraham's being about to sacrifice 
his son, an angel of Jeva calls to him out of heaven, and tells 
him to stop, and not lay his hand on the boy ; For now I see, 
says he, that you fear God. (22 : 11, 12.) And after Abraham 
had sacrificed a substitute, an angel of Jeva called again a 
second time out of heaven, and renewed to him the previous 
promises of Jeva, with the addition that his posterity should 
possess the gate of his enemies. 22:17. 

31. Sarah died 1860 B. C, at the age of 127 ; and Abra- 
ham bought a place to bury her in. He instituted no claim 
to the land, but went into the market and bought it like an 
honest man. The owners paid him the oriental compliment 
to offer to give him a place for the burial of his family ; but 
he scorned to accept it as a favor, and bought a lot of the 
sons of Heth, the Hittite, which contained the cave of Mach- 
pelah, for 400 shekels of silver [$224], current with a mer- 
chant. This is the earliest historical allusion to silver as a 
precious metal, and to the use of it as a medium of exchange. 
It also shows that land had acquired a value, and was held 
and sold as human property ; and a still more important tes- 
timony of this transaction is, that letters were not yet in- 
vented, and the sale of land was witnessed in the hearing of 
the people. On this point the evidence is conclusive. 



CHAP. XIV. EIBLICAL THEORIES. 139 

32. After this, Abraham is made, like a good oriental 
father, to provide an Aramaean wife for Isaac, at the mature 
age of 40, and a third wife for himself about 1853 B. C, by 
whom he became the father of the Midianites and other 
ancient tribes, when he dies and is gathered to his fathers at 
the good old age of 175 years. 

33. The great ornament and glory of Abraham's character 
is his piety ; and in respect to this he is a model man, and 
the most perfect creation reached by the ancient allegorists 
up to this time. He is thoroughly oriental, not Grecian nor 
Roman ; calm, mild, patient, and persistent. He prospers 
and becomes rich; considered as an individual, he is not 
without faults ; his prevarication and lying in denying his 
wife are quite unworthy of so great and good a man ; so much 
so as to be strong evidences that they have a foundation in 
facts, and are not creations of the allegorist. An allegorist 
might create incidents of virtue and glory, but would not be 
likely to create those of vice and shame. The latest inci- 
dent of the kind, however, cannot well be taken literally. 
A man might deem it prudent to deny a beautiful wife of 30, 
or even 50 ; but a wife 90 years old is a little too far ad- 
vanced to have exposed her husband to any danger on her 
account. 

34. The repudiation of Hagar is drawn with the hand of 
a master, and is too bad to be taken literally ; it is too mon- 
strous and cruel ever to have been performed by so good a 
man, and could not possibly ^ave had the concurrence and 
authority of God. The owner of an indefinite number of 
camels and asses, and the conqueror of mighty kings, sends 
away his earliest childbearing wife, and his oldest son, and 
expels them forever from his home, to gratify a superior wife, 
who wishes to get them out of the way of her infant Isaac. 
The banished boy is 13 years old. Abraham rises early in 
the morning, and takes bread and a skin of water and gives 
to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the boy, and sends 



140 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XV. 

her away, and she wanders homeless in the wilderness of 
Beersheba ; and if God had not heard the cry of her boy and 
of herself in her desolation and distress, they would never 
have been heard from more. It is safe to conclude that this 
is an allegory, representing some transaction of »a less aggra- 
vated and shameful character. Such inhumanity would dis- 
grace a savage. It is possible that Hagar and Sarah repre- 
sent cities and homes of different Abrahamic families, and 
that the stock man, after founding his Isaachic family, neg- 
lected his Hagarite one, and that this is represented in the 
allegory. The history of Abraham is a grand Hebrew poem, 
and during the whole course of Hebrew history has exerted a 
powerful influence on the Hebrew mind and culture ; his 
virtues were great, princely, and many, his faults few. His 
history is little less dear to Christians than Hebrews, and is 
one of the treasures of all Christian nations and ages ; more 
justly interpreted than heretofore, its usefulness will be pro- 
portionally increased. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Traditions of Isaac. 

1. The Isaachic traditions are few and of little impor- 
tance, except as they are connected with preceding and fol- 
lowing traditions. Isaac is the connecting link between 
Abraham and Jacob. He was born, according to the com- 
mon reckoning, 1807 B. C, when Abraham was 100 years 
old. To carry forward the decade system of chronology, 
Isaac ought to commence the third decade of the Adamic 
race ; but the decade system is dropped with Abraham, and 
we are henceforward without any uniform system of chronol- 
ogy, and often with none at all. The termination of the dec- 
ade system at this point is an indication of its fictitious 
character and late origin. - Had it originated early, it might 



CHAP. XV. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 141 

have been kept along, and would have been as convenient 
and useful from Isaac downwards as it was from Adam to 
Noah, and from Shem to Abraham. But if it had a late 
origin, it would be obliged to stop when some real knowledge 
of dates begins, and when stock men and tribes begin to be 
superseded in history by individuals, and by definite and exact 
statements of dates and things. The termination of the dec- 
ades does not bring us to clear light, only to the morning 
twilight ; but the morning star has arisen, and the sun is on 
his way. 

2. Isaac is married to Rebecca, granddaughter of his uncle 
Nahor, at the mature age of 40, under the direction and prov- 
ident care of the pious Abraham. Race culture is the ruling 
consideration in the selection of this wife ; the inferior stock 
of Canaan is contemned, and the superior stock of Shem 
preferred. Rebecca is for a time without children, but the 
favor of Jeva is entreated and obtained, after the lapse of 20 
years, and she bears the illustrious Esau and Jacob. Not- 
withstanding they were twins, the first born is carefully dis- 
tinguished, and entitled to hereditary honors and emoluments, 
of which, however, the scheming and crafty Jacob manages 
to deprive him, and have them for himself. We are also 
informed that, previous to their birth, Jeva told Rebecca that 
the older should serve the younger. Mothers often receive 
strange premonitions in respect to their children, and fathers 
sometimes are instructed early to expect great good or evil at 
their hand. Such premonitions occur under the providence 
and by permission of God, and in a dark age are often attrib- 
uted directly to the Supreme, or to subordinate deities. Early 
history among the Persians and Greeks abounds with inci- 
dents of this kind, and with examples of the folly of under- 
taking to obstruct the will of the gods, or defeat their coun- 
sels in respect to human affairs. 

3. In some cases parents were made desperate by evil au- 
guries, and endeavored to stay the tide of coming calamities 



142 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVI. 

by killing their children, and getting them out of the way ; 
but they never succeeded. Providence always found meth- 
ods to preserve its instruments, and hold them to their task, 
and in the end always triumphed. The Hebrew annals cor- 
respond in this respect with those of the Greeks, and show a 
similar faith in respect to divine predestinations. Rebecca 
is taught to regard her sons as two nations, of which the 
older is to serve the younger. Isaac represents 60 years in 
traditionary chronology, the period of his life preceding the 
birth of his sons and successors. After having provided his 
successor, he passes the long and honorable years of his sub- 
sequent life in wealth and opulence, digs wells, has a vision 
of Jeva by night, builds an altar, blesses his sons ; but by 
imposition and mistake distributes his blessings differently 
from what he intended, giving the preeminence to Jacob 
which he designed for Esau, and dies at the good old age of 
180 years, 1716 B. C. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Traditions of Jacob and Esau. 

1. Jacob and Esau were born 1837 B. C, when their 
father was 60 years old. This is less removed from the re- 
gions of probability than the birth of Isaac when Abraham 
was 100 years old and Sarah 90. Both appear to be ficti- 
tious. In narratives, where the allegorical is abundant, what- 
ever transcends the bounds of probability must be judged 
allegorical. This is the rule of allegorical interpretation, and 
it is a correct rule ; it is the rule according to which all hon- 
est allegories are constructed, and is as applicable to these 
allegories as others. Jacob and Esau have very much the 
appearance of stock men, and may have been such. Jacob's 
12 sons are a large family, and though entirely possible to a 
single father, are not common ; polygamists do not usually 
have large families. Some monster polygamist families are 



CHAP. XVI. BIBLICAIi THEORIES. 143 

recorded in the period of the Judges ; but the general history 
of polygamy, ancient or modern, relates few large families. 

Though twins, the difference between the brothers is re- 
markable ; Esau is rough and coarse, Jacob is smooth and 
refined ; Esau is a skilful hunter, Jacob a skilful herdsman, 
dwelling in tents ; Jacob is the favorite of his mother, and 
Esau of his father. 25 : 19-28. 

2. Men's employments and pursuits have a great effect on 
their destinies, and the fortunes of their posterity. We do 
not act for ourselves, or for our age alone ; unborn genera- 
tions reap good or evil from our doings. This is one of the 
great lessons of the Abrahamic traditions, and it is the great 
lesson of the traditions of Jacob and Esau. Esau, as older, 
was by patriarchal usage the superior, and ought to have been 
the greater man, and to have left his posterity in the higher 
position ; but he was far outstripped by Jacob, his younger 
brother, and his posterity to the latest ages felt the blight of 
his improvidence and indiscretions, and of his inferior culture. 

3. There is one defect in these pictures, if understood cor- 
rectly, that here appears for the first time ; injustice, imposi- 
tion, and low cunning are apparently made instruments of 
prosperity. Jacob takes advantage of Esau's famishing con- 
dition, and his impatience, and buys his birthright. This 
was most unjust and ungenerous, and ought not to be valid ; 
but it is treated as entirely valid. Rebecca conspires with 
Jacob, and they practise a gross imposition on the aged Isaac, 
and steal from him the blessing which he designed for Esau. 
This must be a fiction, unless Isaac was far indeed in his do- 
tage, and the arbitrary distribution of benefits ought to have 
passed from his hands. But as a fiction it teaches a bad les- 
son ; it teaches that God's blessings to latest ages may be 
obtained by impositions and frauds, as men can be swindled. 
The allegory is remarkable, and probably represents facts, all 
exact knowledge of which is lost; it can hardly be taken 
literally ; if not literally true, it appears to be the symbolical 



144 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVI. 

representation of a transaction in which Jacob incurred the 
mortal resentment of Esau by a great wrong, and in conse- 
quence of which he had to flee for his life, and continue many 
years abroad. 

4. It seems to be a fault of this tradition to record a trans- 
action so infamous without any marks of disapprobation, and 
when the perpetrator of this great swindle is on the way to 
Syria, Jeva visits him by night at Bethel, and renews to him 
the Abrahamic promises, without any reproof of his enormous 
sin. The perceptions of right and wrong in the minds of the 
authors of this tradition, it would seem, must have been much 

at fault. 25 : 29-28 : 22. 

The night vision at Bethel is one of the finest in the 
sacred books. God's friendship for Jacob is unquestion- 
able, but it cannot ignore his sins, or allow him to profit 
by them. 

5. Jacob's return to Canaan, after an absence of many 
years, is put under the patronage and direction of Jeva. (31:3.) 
And Jeva said to Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers 
and of your birth, and I will be with you. Jacob describes 
this transaction thus (v. 11—13) : And an angel of the gods 
said to me in a dream, Jacob ; and I said, Here am I. 
And he said to me, Lift up your eyes now and see. All 
the he goats which lead up over the flock are spotted, and 
speckled, and sprinkled, for I have seen all that Laban has 
done to you. I am the Al of Bethel, where you anointed 
[set up] a pillar, where you vowed to me a vow : now arise, 
go from this land, and return to the land of your birth. The 
Jeva in the first part of this tradition, is the angel of the 
gods of a later portion of it. The whole transaction is a 
dream ; it signifies that Jacob was acting by divine direction 
and in conformity with God's will, but implies nothing super- 
natural. 

6. The vision of Mahanaim (hosts), and the events that 
transpired there, are among the most important in Hebrew 



CHAP. XVI. BIBLICAL THEOEIES. 145 

history. (32 : 1,2.) And Jacob went his way, and angels of 
God met him ; and Jacob said when he saw them, This is a 
host of gods ; and he called the name of the place Hosts. 
(21-30). And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man 
with him till the break of day. When he saw that he could 
not prevail against him, then he touched the socket of his 
thigh, and the socket of Jacob's thigh was smitten in his 
WTestling with him ; and he said, Let me go, for the morning 
breaks ; and he said, I will not let you go unless you bless 
me. And he said to him, What is your name ? Arid he 
said, Jacob ; and he said to him, Your name shall no more 
be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have prevailed with gods, 
and you shall prevail with men. Then Jacob asked and said, 
Tell me, I pray you, your name ; and he said, Why is this, 
that you ask for my name ? Then he blessed him there. 
And Jacob called the place Face of Al, for [says he] I have 
seen God face to face, and my life shall be delivered. 

7. As an allegory this is most beautiful ; to interpret it 
literally, is to spoil it. Gods appeared in troops to the an- 
cients ; superior beings are not lost to the universe by the 
progress of knowledge and habits of accurate thinking. 
The innumerable worlds revealed to modern ideas give us 
many homes for rational beings, some of which may be vastly 
older than the earth, and occupied by beings vastly superior 
to man ; and for aught that appears, God may have myriads 
of intelligences that are not confined to single worlds, but go 
at will from world to w r orld and system to system, with more 
than the speed of light ; but none of these beings are per- 
mitted to appear. They are known to us as possibilities, as 
probabilities ; some of them as moral certainties ; but not as 
beings yet reached by any sensible demonstrations. These 
allegories are not a valid authority on the ground of which to 
assume any different arrangement in respect to superior beings 
in ancient times, from what appears now. They are all, 
therefore, to be explained in harmony with the known arrange- 
13 



146 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVI. 

ments of providence, and yield better and more practical 
lessons on that supposition, than on the unwarrantable sup- 
position of special and exceptional dispensations. 

8. The common use of this allegory is to encourage wres- 
tling with God in prayer, in the face of dangers. This is 
perhaps the clew to its interpretation. In great peril and 
solicitude, Jacob betook himself to prayer, and God was pro- 
pitiated, and granted him relief and protection. 

9. The meeting of the brothers is a masterpiece of ancient 
painting, honorable both to the head and heart of the tradi- 
tionist. Esau comes out in anger to punish his ancient wrong, 
and is at the head of 400 men. Jacob meets him unarmed 
with a cavalcade of princely presents, stretching long before 
him, all pressed on his brother's acceptance, all the acknowl- 
edgment of his own past and regretted misdeeds, and the 
price of reconciliation. A heart that would not have re- 
lented in the face of such acknowledgments would have been 
a stone. 

10. If the meeting is a reality and corresponded to the 
account, it is one of the most sublime transactions in history. 
If it is in part fictitious, it is touched with the pencil of an 
angel, and dipped in the dyes of heaven. 

Jacob meets his brother after his presents had gone before, 
and had time to produce their effect ; and his presents follow 
one by one, and drove by drove. This was a skilful arrange- 
ment. Jacob gave to Esau all; it was none too much to 
make amends for his wrong, and none too much to express 
his sense of the value he now set on his brother's love. The 
offence is not mentioned by either of the brothers, nor any 
hostile intentions of Esau on coming out, alluded to. With a 
generous oriental urbanity, all evil is ignored, and only words 
of love are heard. Truly a man's present makes a way for him, 
and conducts him before kings ; and Jacob's presents make a 
way for him, and propitiate his brother. This narrative is 
a lesson to all times and ages, how an injured and angry 



CHAP. XVI. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 147 

brother may be conquered and appeased, and how an evil 
doer may sometimes repair a wrong. 

1 1 . After this the brothers are friends ; but not so their 
descendants : each party resumed the ancestral grudge, and car- 
ried it along in the whole course of their national careers, for 
more than 1000 years. How awful a thing is the animosity 
of brothers ! From this time (1739 B. C.) Jacob lives in 
Canaan. He brought 1 1 sons on his return, and his Ben- 
jamin was added afterwards ; he experiences a variety of 
fortunes, but is generally prosperous. 

12. God several times appears to him, and on some of 
these occasions renews to him the promises to Abraham. 
His beloved Rachel dies at the birth of Benjamin, and Joseph 
is hated by his brothers, and sold into Egypt, and reported to 
him as torn to pieces by a wild beast ; and with all his pros- 
perity, Jacob is a man of severe afflictions. But his sun goes 
down in glory, in the exaltation and glory of his long-lost 
and finally recovered Joseph. The story of Joseph is one of 
the most pathetic ever written, and one of the triumphs of the 
writing art. There is no doubt a blending of fact and fiction 
in it, but it seems to have a basis of facts, and is a powerful 
lesson on the inscrutable providence of God, and his care of 
good men. 

13. The patriarchal blessing, which is described more 
briefly in the case of Isaac, grows into a brilliant prophetic 
ode in the case of Jacob. In conformity with the allegorical 
character of these narratives, the extraordinary portions of 
this ode must be postdated, after the times of Joshua, and 
the distribution of the tribes to their particular positions in 
the land of Canaan. Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years, and Was 
147 years old at his death, 1689 B. C. Joseph survived him 
54 years, and died 1635, 110 years old. 

14. The Isaachic historic period is a splendid oasis in the 
desert of the past, and a green and beautiful island in its 
seas. We can never return to it, and it can never return 



148 BLBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVI. 

to us: it commenced with the birth of Isaac, 1897 B. C, 
and terminated with the death of Joseph, 1635, — lasting 
262 years, and leaving the 12 Abrahamic families in Egypt. 
According to the Abrahamic traditions, the stay in Egypt was 
400 years — a period which does not seem too long for the 
results it reached. During that sojourn, the 12 Abrahamic 
families grew to be a considerable nation. 

Ion, a grandson of Noah, founded the Greek communities 
long before the Abrahamic era, and from his time the leaven 
of Greek culture began to work. The Ionians received con- 
tributions from other stocks, but assimilated the whole. They 
were stationary, and in that respect had the advantage of the 
Hebrews, who were yet nomadic. They had the advantage 
of them in another respect, — they were never enslaved, and 
never experienced the debasing influence of long- continued 
national servitude. 

Hence the Grecian spirit was more bold, more free, more 
independent and determined than that of the Hebrews, and 
their achievements more varied and extended, and in many 
departments far more brilliant and valuable. Zidon takes 
its name from a grandson of Ham by Canaan, and was prob- 
ably a flourishing commercial city of considerable age in the 
times of Abraham. After the death of Joseph there is a 
chronological chasm in the Hebrew narratives, in which 
nothing appears till we reach the birth of Moses. 

Joseph was carried to Egypt about 1728 B. C. He is sup- 
posed to have met the early Greeks in Egypt, distinguished 
exiles from that country having found an asylum there in his 
time. He was the minister of Thoutmosis, who reigned after 
the expulsion of the shepherd kings ; Mceris, one of the suc- 
cessors of this king, excavated the lake which bears his 
name, and which will commemorate till the end of time his 
enterprise and industry. 



CHAP. XVH. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 149 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Mosaic Traditions. 

Mosaic Tradition 1. 
Scheme of the Exodus devised and conditionally resolved on. 

Moses is the next great light of the world after Abraham. 
He was born in that dark period of Egyptian servitude when 
the male children of the Hebrews were destroyed at birth ; 
and was exposed in a box in the rushes that skirted the Nile, 
where he was rescued by a daughter of Pharaoh, and brought 
up by his mother for her. His education is supposed to have 
extended to all the learning of the Egyptians : this embraced 
hieroglyphic and hieratic writing, together with geometry and 
several important mechanic arts, with some history. The 
care of his mother in his childhood was not in vain : though 
the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, at mature age he 
espoused the cause of his afflicted countrymen, and under- 
took to serve them. Having killed an Egyptian whom he 
found beating one of them, he incurred the displeasure of 
Pharaoh, and his own people not accepting his kind offices 
in their behalf, he was obliged to flee for his life. He 
went to Midian, a country of the Keturian Arabs, where he 
found a yiS, priest, or prince, and married his daughter. It 
is then said, — 

1. And Moses was keeper of the flock of Jethro, his father- 
in-law, priest of Midian. And he led the flock behind the 
wilderness, and came to the mountain of God to Horeb. And 
an angel of Jeva appeared to him in a flame of fire, in the 
midst of a bush, and he saw, and behold, the bush burned 
with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, 
I will turn now and see this great sight, why the bush is not 
burned. And Jeva saw that he turned to see, and God called 
to him from the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses ; 
13* 



150 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVII. 

and he said, Here am I. And lie said, Approach not hither ; 
put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you 
stand is ground of a sanctuary. Then he said, I am the God 
of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and 
the God of Jacob. 3: 1-6. 

2. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look on 
God. And Jeva said, I have seen the affliction of my people 
who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry from before their 
exactors, for I know their sorrows, and have come down to 
deliver them, and to bring them up from that land to a good 
and broad land, and a land flowing with milk and honey, to 
the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, 
and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite ; and 
now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me, 
and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians 
oppress them, and now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, 
that you may bring out my people, the sons of Israel, from 
Egypt. 7-10. 

3. Then Moses said to God, Who am I, that I should go 
to Pharaoh, and that I should bring out the sons of Israel 
from Egypt ? And he said, [You shall do it,] for I will be 
with you, and this shall be a sign for you that I have sent 
you ; when you bring out the people you shall serve God on 
this mountain. And Moses said to God, Behold, [if] I go 
to the sons of Israel, and say to them, The God of our fathers 
has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is his name ? 
what shall I tell them ? And God said to Moses, I am what 
I am ; and he said, Say thus to the sons of Israel : I am 
has sent me to you. 11-14. 

4. And God said again to Moses, Thus say to the sons of 
Israel, Jeva, God of your fathers, God of Abraham, God of 
Isaac, and God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my 
name forever, and this is my memorial for generation and gen- 
eration. Go and assemble all the elders of Israel, and say to 
them, Jeva, God of your fathers, has appeared to me, God 



CHAP. XVII. BIBLICAL THEOEIES. 151 

of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, saying, I have surely 
visited you, and [seen] what is done to you in Egypt ; and I 
have said, I will bring you up from the affliction of Egypt to 
the land of the Canaanite, and of the Hittite, and of the 
Amorite, and of the Perizzite, and of the Hivite, and of the 
Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey. And they 
shall hear your voice, and you shall go, and the elders of 
Israel, to the king of Egypt, and say to him, Jeva, the God 
of the Hebrews, has alighted upon us; and now let us go, we 
pray you, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we 
may sacrifice to Jeva, our God. And I know that the king 
of Egypt will not let you go, — not with a strong hand. And 
I will stretch out my hand and smite all the land of Egypt 
with all my wonders which I will do in it, and afterwards he 
shall let you go ; and I will give this people favor in the 
sight of the Egyptians ; and when you go, you shall not go 
empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her 
that dwells in her house, jewels of gold and jewels of silver, 
and clothes, and you shall put them on your sons and on your 
daughters, and you shall strip the Egyptians. 15-22. 

5. And Moses answered and said, They will not believe 
me, nor hear my voice, for they will say, Jeva has not appeared 
to you. Then Jeva said to him, What is this in your hand ? 
and he said, A rod ; and he said, Cast it down on the ground. 
And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and 
Moses fled from before it. Then Jeva said to Moses, Stretch 
out your hand, and take it by the tail. And he stretched out 
his hand, and took it, and it became a rod in his hand ; [do 
this] that they may believe that Jeva, God of your fathers, 
has appeared to you, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and 
God of Jacob. 4 : 1-5. 

6. And Jeva said further to him, Put now your hand into 
your bosom. And he put his hand in his bosom, and took it 
out, and behold, his hand was as leprous as snow. And he 
said, Put back your hand into your bosom ; and he put back 



152 BIBLICAL THEOEIES. CHAP, XVII. 

his hand into his bosom, and took it out of his bosom, and 
behold, it was restored like his flesh. And if they will not be- 
lieve you, nor hear your voice for the first sign, then they 
shall believe the voice of the other sign ; and if they believe 
not also these two signs, and hear not your voice, then take 
of the waters of the river, and pour out on the dry land, and 
they shall be waters when you take [them] from the river, 
and they shall be blood on the dry land. 6-9. 

7, Then Moses said to Jeva a prayer, — My Lord, I am not 
a man of words, neither since yesterday nor the day before, 
nor since you have spoken to your servant ; but I am of a 
heavy lip and heavy tongue. Then Jeva said to him, Who 
gave mouth to man ? or who makes the dumb, or the deaf, 
or the seeing, or the blind ? do not I, Jeva ? And now go, 
and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall 
speak. Then he said a prayer, — My Lord, send, I pray you, 
by the hand by which you will send [somebody else]. 10-13. 

8. Then the anger of Jeva was kindled against Moses, and 
he said, Is not Aaron, the Levite, your brother ? I know 
that he can speak, and also, behold, he comes forth to meet 
you, and when he sees you he shall rejoice in his mind ; and 
do you speak to him, and put Avords in his mouth, and I will 
be with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do ; 
and he shall speak for you to the people, and be your mouth, 
and you shall be his god ; and take this rod in your hand, 
with which you shall perform the signs. 11-17. 

This allegory is the call of Moses to deliver his people from 
the Egyptian servitude. He had become acquainted with 
Arabia, and formed an influential connection there, and God 
selects him as an instrument of his providence to effect a 
great deliverance for his oppressed people. 

V. 1 . Here is an appearance of God ; how is it to be in- 
terpreted ? Literally or allegorically ? Either of these inter- 
pretations is possible ; the allegorical interpretation is entirely 



CHAP. XTJI. BLBLICAE THEORIES. 153 

consistent with the method of the Hebrew traditionists ; all 
.previous appearances of God are of this kind; is this alle- 
gorical ? It is ; and this appears both by its position after 
the earlier allegories, by the nature of the symbol, and by the 
dialogue. Fire was early made a symbol of God in the east, 
and fire- worshippers have been numerous ; but God is not 
fire any more than he is flood ; nor is there any propriety in 
conceiving of an infinite spirit as a fire, except in metaphori- 
cal relations. The fire representation of God originated when 
men were ignorant of the nature of fire, and of the spiritu- 
ality and immensity of God. With correct views of either, 
such a symbolism can never be admitted nor tolerated. The 
representation of God by fire is analogous to that by beasts 
and men ; God is neither. The literal theory of this appear- 
ance is inconsistent with the known nature of God, and mis- 
represents him ; he might as well be represented as a beast 
or a man. As an allegory the narrative is consistent and 
beautiful ; if it had been a literal fact it ought to have been 
substantiated by evidence ; but not a particle of evidence is 
adduced, or was possible to be adduced, to show its reality ; 
it is related as a private vision ; private visions cannot be 
proved. 

V. 2. The title which God assumes demands an allegorical 
interpretation of the narrative ; he does not claim to be the 
Eternal Creator, the upholder and sovereign of all worlds, or 
of this entire world ; but only God of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob. When other men had other gods, and the gods them- 
selves were but little above men, this was a suitable title by 
which to distinguish the god of the Hebrews from those of 
other peoples ; but it is no proper designation of the true 
God, and was generally abandoned by the Hebrews when, in 
later times, they attained higher and more correct views of 
the divine Being. The Jeva of this allegory says he has come 
down [from heaven] to effect a great deliverance. Such 
things may be said for God, but can never be said by him ; 



BIBLICAL THEORIES. 



CHAP. XVII. 



the Infinite never comes down nor goes up ; he equally fills 
heaven and earth, and is not obliged to go about to effect 
deliverances. The celebrated Philo (A. D. 40) notices this, 
and draws the conclusion from it here drawn. The proposal 
to send Moses as a deliverer to Egypt is to be understood 
providentially. Providentially God undoubtedly made this 
proposal to his servant, and makes similar proposals to other 
deliverers. The narrative furnishes no evidence of any thing 
extraordinary ; it represents the common and universal method 
of God by extraordinary symbols ; and the symbols are not 
to be mistaken for the things symbolized. All missions of 
usefulness are from God, and are under his patronage ; and 
every missionary is a Moses ; and if not sent by fires, they 
are apt to be sent through them. 

V. 3. Moses feels unequal to the task, and anticipates dif- 
ficulties. This represents the doubt and distrust that a good 
man feels when a work of great labor and peril is providen- 
tially set before him ; he looks at it, and sees the demand, 
and desires to meet it ; he sees the difficulties, and is afraid. 

V. 4. A man that undertakes a great enterprise, and one 
of great difficulty, must have a plan and method. And this 
deliverance involves several great questions of policy. How 
shall it be effected ? Shall the Hebrews cast off their fetters 
and remain where they are, or shall they emigrate en masse 
to another land ? and if they emigrate, where shall they go ? 
Jeva suggests to Moses to take his people back to Canaan, 
the chosen home of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is sug- 
gested to him as both practicable and expedient, and the 
suggestion is ascribed to Jeva. It may have been the plan 
of Moses to take the nation to Canaan when he commenced 
his negotiations with Pharaoh, but more probably not ; he 
then proposed to go only three days' journey into the wilder- 
ness, which is about 75 or 100 miles into Arabia; and it is 
not improbable that this was all that was then thought of. 
It is proposed in the narrative as a pretence ; but we are 



CHAP. XVII. BIBLICAL THE0KIES. 155 

dealing with historical allegories, and many things mean 
much more than is said, or appears on the surface. The di- 
rection of their march, their visit to Mount Sinai, and their 
continuance in Arabia more than a generation, all favor the 
supposition that the primitive scheme of deliverance which 
Moses devised and executed for his people embraced their 
removal from Egypt and settlement in Arabia. Moses found 
a happy home, and much unoccupied land there, and he may 
have thought it possible to establish his people in like happy 
homes in that country ; but the traditionists represent the 
settlement of the nation in Canaan as the cherished scheme 
of Moses from the first, and the suggestion of God. 

That it was ultimately the suggestion and adopted child of 
expediency, is very clear ; but that it ever had the favor or 
approbation of God may be doubted. God is not the patron 
of robbery and plunder, and gives no more countenance to 
nations in wholesale schemes of national plunder than he 
does to individuals for operating on the same principles within 
narrower fields. God is never either the prompter or accom- 
plice of wickedness. It was perfectly right for the Hebrews 
to leave Egypt, and establish themselves on the unoccupied 
lands of Arabia ; and if they could have obtained Canaan by 
purchase in a just way, it was right for them to go and estab- 
lish themselves there ; but to take it by violence was not 
right, and was in contradiction of Abrahamic precedents. 
Abraham bought land for its market price, and paid for it ; 
and the only just method of obtaining it in later times was 
the same. If the scheme of Moses originally was to deliver 
his people from Egypt, and settle them in the unoccupied 
lands of Arabia, it was worthy of him, and worthy of God ; 
and this being supposed, all that followed may have super- 
vened upon it. The method of plundering the Egyptians by 
borrowing their jewelry, apparently for a temporary use, is 
scarcely worthy of God, and shows that the modern doc- 
trines of right and wrong, in regard to property, were not 
reached by the traditionists. 



156 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVII. 

V. 5. The story of the miracle with the rod is too nearly 
allied to the tricks of the ancient Magi to have the least 
probability as a fact ; and the literal interpretation, having no 
external support, falls to the ground. Such miracles are both 
unworthy of God, and of the great cause of human liberty, 
which his servant was commissioned to prosecute. If the 
redemption of enslaved nations waits till God sends deliverers 
converting rods into serpents, and serpents into rods, as signs 
of their divine commissions, it will wait long. God attests 
the commissions of his servants by quite another class of 
symbols. Their symbols are works and words of mercy and 
love, and arms of power ; God does not neglect duly to cer- 
tify the commissions of his servants, and so far this symbol- 
ism is in place, and signifies an eternal truth. In a rude age 
a rod or cane was not a bad symbol of power ; the rod of 
Magi wrought the most amazing wonders ; its spell pene- 
trated heaven above and hades below, and strewed the earth 
with marvels ; the sceptre of kings was also a rod, or cane, 
and in their hands it was an instrument of protection for the 
good and chastisement for the wicked. As a symbol, the rod 
of Moses is in place. 

V. 6. The miracle of putting the hand in the bosom and 
making it leprous, etc., is borrowed from the tricks of ancient 
Magi, and cannot be imputed to God ; the same is true of 
the change of water to blood. 

V. 7. Moses now looks at the whole thing, and wishes to 
be excused ; it is too arduous, too full of peril and difficulty. 
How beautifully does the allegory describe the suspense and 
hesitation of a great and good man, when a vast and peril- 
ous scheme of usefulness is on his mind and heart, and he is 
yet deliberating and doubting whether to embark in it or not! 
God calls, the work itself pleads with a thousand tongues ; 
but will God sustain his servant, and will the work be found 
practicable f In proportion to the magnitude and grandeur 
of works are their perils and difficulties. At times Moses 



CHAP. XVII. BIBLICAL THEOKIES. 157 

says, No, I will not, I cannot ; these labors are too much : 
but God says, You must ; these labors are great, and the per- 
ils are great ; but I am the strengthener of the good, and I 
confound the evil. Moses hesitates long ; and well he might : 
so daring and unpromising a task had never been attempted 
before by mortal, and long ages would pass before it should 
be attempted again. As yet it stands alone on the page of 
history, as one of the mightiest works of man, and one of 
the greatest mercies of God. 

V. 8. At last the patience of Jeva is exhausted with the 
distrust and hesitation of his servant, and he becomes angry, 
but not furious nor vindictive. He had before told him to go 
to the work in his own strength, and that he who made both 
mouth and hand would be with his mouth and hand ; but he 
now tells him to take his brother Aaron as an assistant. Two 
are better than one ; Aaron is a man of eloquence and influ- 
ence, and will be able to give him essential aid. He con- 
cludes that if he can enlist Aaron in the scheme, he will 
undertake it. The die is now cast, and the sword drawn ; this 
conditional decision by the fulfilment of the condition is des- 
tined to be made final, and to put Moses on the highway to 
glory. 

Mosaic Tkadition 2. 

The Aid of Aaron, and the Concurrence of the Hebrews 
secured. 

1 . Then Moses went and returned to Jethro, his father-in- 
law, and said to him, Let me go now and return to my broth- 
ers who are in Egypt, and see if they are yet alive ; and 
Jethro said to Moses, Go for peace. Then Jeva said to 
Moses, in Midian, Go, and return to Egypt, for the men that 
sought your life are dead. And Moses took his wife, and his 
sons, and made them ride on an ass, and returned to Egypt ; 
and Moses took the rod of God in his hand. 4 : 18-20. 

2. And Jeva said to Moses, When you go to return to 

14 



158 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVII. 

Egypt, see all the signs which I put in your hand, and do 
them before Pharaoh ; but I will make his mind obstinate, 
and he shall not let the people go. Then you shall say to 
Pharaoh, Thus says Jeva : Israel is my first born son, and I 
say to you, Let my son go, that he may serve me ; if you refuse 
to let him go, behold, I will kill your son, your first born. 21-2.3. 

3. And when he was on the way at a place of stopping 
for the night, then Jeva met him, and sought to kill him ; and 
Zipporah took a stone [extemporized a knife] and cut off the 
foreskin of her son, and threw it at his [Jeva's] feet. Then 
she said, Surely a bloody spouse are you to me ; then he let 
go of him ; then she said, A bloody spouse is for circumcis- 
ing. 24-27. 

4. Then Jeva said to Aaron, Go to meet Moses in the wil- 
derness ; then he went and met him on the mount of God, 
and kissed him ; and Moses told Aaron all the words which 
Jeva sent him, and all the signs which he commanded him 
to perform ; and Moses and Aaron went and assembled all 
the elders of the sons of Israel, and Aaron told all the words 
which Jeva had spoken to Moses, and performed the signs in 
the sight of the people. Then the people believed when they 
heard that Jeva had visited the sons of Israel, and that he had 
seen their affliction ; and they bowed and worshipped. 27-31. 

V. 1-3. Moses returns to Egypt to undertake his mission. 
His encounter with Jeva on the way probably sets forth enig- 
matically some danger that befell him on his journey, and 
threatened his life, and is a fit symbol of like dangers that 
beset the ways of God's servants on the eve of great under- 
takings. It seems very strange that Jeva should meet his 
servant with his great commission in his pocket, and threaten 
his life ; but so it is, and so dark and inscrutable are the 
ways of Providence ; a man escapes by a hair's breadth some- 
times, when he is on the way to perform the great mission of 
his life, and to accomplish objects dear to the heart of God, 
and involving the happiness of millions. • 






CHAP. XYII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 159 

Zipporah, like tlie true wife, comes to her husband's relief, 
and concluding that there has been some neglect with which 
Jeva is displeased, inquires what it is. Perhaps her husband 
had wished to impress the national symbol on his son, and 
she had objected ; with a feminine intuition, Zipporah divines 
the cause of Jeva's displeasure, and instantly removes it, and 
casts the demanded offering at his feet ; the lesson is most 
beautiful, and the symbol most true ; how often and ho*w 
variously has the scene been reenacted by the Zipporahs of 
later ages and different lands ! All honor to the faithful and 
pious Zipporah ! 

V. 4. Moses meets Aaron, and easily enlists him in the 
mighty work. Moses and Aaron propose it to the elders of 
the nation, its domestic rulers, and it gains their concurrence ; 
they propose it to the people, and all agree to accept the 
offered benefit. This is much ; if they will consent, some- 
thing may be done for them ; if they will concur with a skil- 
ful leader, and sustain and follow him, they may possibly cast 
off their chains, and emerge from their oppression and de- 
basement to liberty and happiness. 

Mosaic Tradition 3. 

The Negotiation with Pharaoh, its Methods and its Success. 
'Exodus 5: -12: 33. 

1 . The servitude of the Israelites in Egypt was not indi- 
vidual and personal, but national ; they were an oppressed 
nationality. Their great business is represented to have been 
brickmaking. They had their own elders, and a complete 
national organization by tribes and families. They consisted 
of 12 tribes, and each tribe of an indefinite number of fam- 
ilies. Of these tribes, that of Levi seems to have had the pre- 
eminence ; its consecration to the priesthood is a perpetual 
memorial of its superiority at the time when it was made ; 
it proved, however, the ruin of the tribe, and is one of many 



160 BIBLICAL THEOBIES. CHAP. XVII. 

examples to show that God does not favor sacred castes any- 
more than secular ones, and that both are alike wrong and 
inexpedient. 

2. How shall the redemption of this nation be effected? 
Shall it be by force or by negotiation? The latter is the 
method adopted, and seems to have been the only method 
practicable. The demand, however, is not for emancipation ; 
ttfls is not once named ; but for a prolonged period of holi- 
days, and permission to go three days' journey into the wil- 
dernesses of Arabia, there to meet their Jeva in a place ap- 
pointed, to which he calls them. He is a powerful god, and 
if they do not obey his call, they will be likely to suffer for 
it. This request was large and ominous, and Pharaoh was 
highly displeased with it; and the consequence was new 
severities, which came near defeating the enterprise. Moses 
and Aaron became objects of public indignation, as having 
failed to accomplish a deliverance, and as having occasioned, 
by unsuccessful negotiations, a great and intolerable increase 
of their burdens. Moses was greatly disheartened, and car- 
ried the case to Jeva. Jeva had told him at the commence- 
ment not to expect success on the first application ; and he 
tells him now to have courage, and work and wait. Moses 
toils on. Now come the judgments of God in aid of his 
servant. 

3. Moses persists steadily in his demand, and urges it as the 
demand of Jeva, and one that he is fully able to enforce with 
his judgments ; and in the mean time, national judgments 
fall thick and fast on Pharaoh and the Egyptians. These are 
described as produced by the rod of Moses in the manner of 
the Magi. The change of the rod into a serpent before Pha- 
raoh was imitated by the Magi ; but the serpent of Moses ate 
up the serpents of the Magi. These are the symbols ; the 
meaning appears to be, that Moses withstood the Magi, and 
conquered their opposition to his scheme. Moses with his 
rod is more than a match for the Magi with their enchant- 



CHAP. XYII. BIBLICAL THEOKIES. 161 

ments, and after a time they are driven from the field. Such 
is the history of many a benevolent enterprise, and of many 
a later Moses. They no sooner begin to press some demand 
of God and the times, than the Magi of old superstitions and 
oppressions dispute their progress, and endeavor to defeat 
their aims. 

Then come the ten plagues of Egypt. 

1. Turning the waters to blood; 2. Frogs; 3. Gnats; 
4. Gadflies; 5. Cattle pestilence ; 6. Leprous ulcers ; 7. Hail; 
8. Locusts; 9. Darkness; 10. Destruction of the first born. 
These are described as coming at the call of Moses, and fol- 
lowing each other at short intervals. The last was effectual, 
and Pharaoh and his people were so impressed with the fear 
of Jeva that they consented to his demand, and not only 
let the people go, but hurried and helped them off by all 
means in their power. But before the Hebrews had fairly 
got away, the Egyptians pursued them, and were drowned in 
crossing a tract usually covered by the Red Sea. This tract 
had allowed the- Israelites a safe passage ; but the waters 
came back while the Egyptians were crossing it, and drowned 
them. 

It is not necessary to assume a miracle as denoted by any 
of the ten plagues, or by the recession and return of the sea. 
The ten plagues are symbols of successive judgments, what- 
ever they were, imputed to Jeva as direct inflictions of his 
providence, to compel the Egyptians to accede to his demands. 
The various incidents of God speaking to Moses, and Moses 
to God, and the particular demands addressed to Pharaoh, 
are introduced to represent the progress of the negotiation, 
and give completeness to the allegory. As in other allego- 
ries, particulars are not to be pressed unreasonably. The 
analogy of God's dealings on the one hand, and of man's on 
the other, are the supreme rule of their interpretation, and 
they cannot be allowed to transcend it. The literal interpreta- 
tion of these transactions greatly impairs their moral effect. 
14* 



162 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVII. 

The doctrine of the whole is, that God so manifestly es- 
poused the cause of his oppressed people, that the Egyptians 
were intimidated, and, under the presence of the last of these 
judgments, a pestilence, were induced to give a hasty consent 
to let the people go ; that they repented of {his after it was 
too late, and pursued them, and venturing to follow them 
over a tract on the sea which had allowed the Hebrews a safe 
passage, the waters suddenly returned and destroyed them, 
and saved the Hebrews from further pursuit. 

It has been a great misfortune to the human race that this 
allegory has not received a reasonable interpretation. By 
removing the event from the category of God's common prov- 
idences, it has been made inapplicable to the common expe- 
rience of the world, and many of its practical lessons are much 
damaged. God's sympathies are every where with the afflicted 
and oppressed, and his judgments are hard on oppressors; 
he opens passages for his servants through seas, as in the case 
of the Israelites, and cuts off the lives and pursuit of their 
enemies by a return of receding waters to their former beds. 
Taken as supernatural, these allegories misrepresent and he- 
lie the providence of God ; taken properly, they represent it 
correctly, and teach its own eternal lessons. 

Mosaic Tradition 4. 

March of the Israelites to Mount Sinai. Ex. 12 : 34-18 : 27. 

1. The march of the Israelites to the wilderness of Sinai 
occupied three months. On obtaining the consent of the 
Egyptians, they departed in great haste, with all their effects 
and all they could beg or borrow. Their number was 600,000, 
besides children. (12 : 37.) They had been in Egypt 430 
years to a day (12 : 40, 41) ; they took their journey from 
Succoth, and encamped in Etham ; and Jeva went before them 
by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by 
night in a pillar of fire to give them light, to go day and 



CHAP. XVII. BIBEICAE THEORIES. 163 

night; he removed not the pillar of cloud by day, nor the 
pillar of fire by night, before the people. 13 : 21, 22. 

2. This pillar of cloud by day and fire by night signifies 
God's direction and care day and night, but implies nothing 
miraculous ; to take it literally in a narrative abounding with 
allegories is entirely unauthorized. The pursuit of the Egyp- 
tians gave the Israelites great alarm ; but when they had 
passed the sea, and saw it resume its old position and over- 
whelm their pursuers, their joy and exultation were great, and 
the occasion was celebrated by a song of triumph, which is 
preserved, and which possesses great beauty. They had not 
proceeded far before their food began to fail, and they were 
in great distress. This necessity was met by a supply of 
manna from heaven, furnished regularly every morning except 
on the Sabbaths. To this were added quails on a particular 
occasion. (16:4-36.) The manna was supposed to be the 
food of gods. What does it mean ? It must refer to some 
product of the wilderness which afforded them means of sub- 
sistence, or else it must denote generally that through God's 
merciful care means of subsistence were found. The fact is, 
that they lived ; how they lived is not shown. They were a 
nation of herdsmen and shepherds, and doubtless lived to 
a great extent on their flocks, which ranged the wilderness 
pastures. They may also have found lands which they cul- 
tivated to some extent. The acceptance of the miracle of 
the manna in its literal sense is out of the question. It is 
as destitute of proof as the other miracles. Bringing water 
from a rock at Massa (17 : 1-7) was probably digging a well 
into a rock, or in a rocky soil, and obtaining timely supplies. 
God still gives us water from the rock at- the touch of chisels 
and rods. 

3. Here Moses is visited and advised by his father-in-law, 
who seems to have been a man of experience and wisdom ; 
and at his suggestion some improvements are introduced into 
their polity, embracing rulers of thousands, hundreds, and 



164 BIBLICAL THEOEIES. CHAP. XVII. 

fifties, and leaving higher causes and ultimate appeals only 
with Moses. After giving what assistance was in his power, 
Jethro returned to his land. These divisions into thousands, 
hundreds, and fifties here appear for the first time in- history ; 
they are still preserved in the military organizations of mod- 
ern armies, and were adopted by the Greeks and Romans, 
and ancient nations generally. 

Mosaic Tradition 5. 

The Givincf of the Law. 

1 . The giving of the Mosaic laws is invested by the tradi- 
tionists with the greatest conceivable splendor, and attributed 
directly to God. Jews and Christians have ignored the alle- 
gorical character of the narrative, and taken the whole liter- 
ally. God descends on Sinai in a fire, and the mountain is 
enveloped in smoke, like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole 
mountain quakes greatly. Then a trumpet sounds loud and 
long, growing still louder as it proceeds, and all the people 
tremble ; and Moses brings them out to meet God, and Moses 
speaks, and God answers, but charges him to keep the people 
at a respectful distance. Then God commences the verbal 
utterance of his laws, with the ten commandments. The 
people heard thus far, but they could endure it no longer : 
the thunders and lightnings, and the mountain smoking, were 
too much for them, and they beg Moses to be a mediator be- 
tween them and God ; they do not wish to hear God speak 
any more, lest they die, and fall back from the terrific scene J 
God delivers the rest to Moses, and he reports it to the people. 
But the business is .not all finished up in a day; Moses is 
called up on the mountain, and spends 40 days in receiving 
the rest, and the 10 commandments are engraved, the first 
copy by the finger of God on slabs of stone, and the second 
copy by Moses. During the 40 days that Moses is with God, 
the people become impatient, and make a gold calf for a god. 



CHAP. XVII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 165 

2. As an allegory, this is highly significant and perfectly 
true. Men make their idol calves in the very presence of 
God, and while the mountains blaze and smoke with the 
symbols of his power; but that those incidents transpired 
literally, and Jeva was forgotten for a gold calf before he left 
the mountain, is very extraordinary. Jeva's anger rises to 
fury at this affront, and he proposes to Moses to destroy them 
all in a moment, and make a nation of him. But this would 
take a long time ; the nation had been many hundred years 
in reaching the number of 600,000 men, besides children, and 
God's word was pledged to them. 

3. And Moses besought the face of Jeva, his God, and said, 
Why, Jeva, does your anger burn against your people whom 
you have brought out of Egypt with great power and a 
strong hand ? Why should the Egyptians say, You brought 
them out for evil, to kill them on the mountains, and con- 
sume them from the face of the ground ? Turn from the heat 
of your anger, and change your mind concerning the evil on 
your people ; remember Abraham, and Isaac, and Israel, your 
servants, to whom you swore by yourself, and said, I will 
increase your posterity as the stars of the heavens, and all this 
land which I have said, will I give your posterity, and they shall 
inherit it forever. And Jeva changed his mind concerning the 
evil which he had said he would do his people. 32 : 11-13. 

4. This representation corresponds to the ancient ideas of 
God, but falls far short of the truth. Men are subject to 
burning passions ; their anger sometimes rages and is furious. 
God is not the subject of passions ; he never rages, nor is 
furious ; he always does what he pleases, and holds all agents 
subject to his absolute control. Within the limits to which 
he restricts them, he is willing that his agents should do what 
they please, and take the consequences. He has as little 
occasion to be angry with them for acting foolishly or wick- 
edly, as he has to be angry with water for running down the 
declivities of hills and mountains and the slopes of valleys, or 



166 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XYH. 

stones and rocks for falling over precipices. All beings have 
their laws, moral beings no less than physical and unconscious 
ones. When gods were but little elevated above men, and 
often thwarted in their cherished designs and purposes, they 
were as often angry, jealous, and the subjects of other crea- 
ture passions. But an eternal Sovereign and a supreme in- 
finite Spirit cannot be the subject of these affections. Such 
a being can only love. He has no enemies nor rivals, and 
can have none. There is nothing which is not his, and 
nothing for him to fear or hate. To hate is to be miserable ; 
God is love. 

5. If God was the subject of the angers, hatreds, and 
jealousies which in the infancy of theological science were 
ascribed to him, he would be the most miserable being in the 
universe. The history of these opinions is not worthless ; 
it possesses a great value ; it is full of instruction and warn- 
ing to be slow and cautious in deductions respecting the Su- 
preme. But these partial and erroneous views of God have 
never had the divine sanction ; no utterance of God has ever 
asserted them, and no act of God has ever evinced them ; the 
allegories which set them forth are not narratives of facts, 
and if their allegoric character appeared from no other con- 
sideration, it would appear from this, that they represent God 
humanly and imperfectly, and not as he is. 

6. An angry God is a terrific object. The Greeks often 
found their gods angry, and the Hebrews did not rise entirely 
above the errors of their times in their conceptions of the 
true God. They make his troubles and vexations with the 
Israelites immense ; sometimes his patience was quite ex- 
hausted, and he determined to destroy them all, and try 
another stock. We do not wonder : the bad behavior of the 
Hebrews was shocking, as is that of other rude, uncultivated 
peoples ; and when we come to men of culture and refine- 
ment, their shortcomings are in many cases most offensive too. 
But God is neither vexed nor angry, nor wearied : he sits 



CHAP. XVII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 167 

serene in his immensity, and enjoys well his works, and 
enjoys them all. He does not make broken pitchers ; all his 
pitchers are whole and perfect ; he does not make can-ion 
bodies ; all his bodies are living ; but he lets his pitchers 
be broken, and his bodies be dissolved, and then takes the 
elements back into his great reservoirs, to be worked over 
anew and applied to other uses ; and in all this he is impas- 
sible, his serenity is undisturbed, his temper is unruffled, his 
will is unresisted and irresistible. 

7. Such is the doctrine which is ultimately reached by 
Christianity ; it was not fully reached by Judaism, though the 
later prophets caught glimpses of it ; it appears, however, to 
have been the doctrine of Christ, though not clearly appre- 
hended by early Christian writers. It is the doctrine of 
modern Christendom, darkened, however, and obscured, by 
many irreconcilable contradictions, which are destined to be 
laid aside ; and the sooner this is done, the tetter. Let God 
be known to his creatures, let his transcendent glories appear, 
and suns and stars become pale and rayless at his side ; and 
the eye that sees the blest vision wakes to joys unspeakable 
and unattainable from creature sources. 

Mosaic Tradition 6. 

The Laws of Moses. 

These comprehend the entire Hebrew polity. Some, laws 
originated with Moses, and some were retained from previous 
laws. The principal of these laws are the following : — 

1. Making the Levites a sacred tribe, according to the 
caste system of Egypt and India. This was a great error, 
and ultimately ruined the tribe, besides subjecting the other 
tribes to burdensome and unnecessary taxation for their 
support. 

2. An extensive system of sacrifices. This was compli- 
cated, burdensome, and unprofitable. Sacrifices probably 



168 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVII. 

originated early in sacred feasts, which were spread both for 
gods and men. 

3. Circumcision. This, like sacrifices, did not originate 
with Moses, but was handed along from earlier times. 

4. One weekly Sabbath on the seventh day of the week ; 
three annual festivals of a week each, the passover (Num. 
28: 17-25), feast of trumpets (29 : 1-6), and feast of taber- 
nacles (29 : 12-40) ; Sabbatical seventh years, and Sabbatical 
fiftieth years. (Lev. 25 : 1-55.) The Sabbatical years were 
impracticabilities, and the annual feasts were a severe tax on 
the time and industry of the nation ; they have their counter- 
parts in the Grecian and Roman games. 

5. A hereditary priesthood. The priests were sacrincers ; 
they killed and cooked the sacrifices with prescribed cere- 
monies. Without the burdensome system of sacrifices the 
nation would have had no occasion for priests. Priests are 
not a natural demand of human society, and a hereditary 
priesthood has always been a curse to the family to which it 
is given, and to the nation which supports it. Among the 
Greeks and Romans the influence of the priests declined in 
proportion as knowledge and culture advanced, till the order 
finally passed away. 

6. A system of domestic servitude. The servitude of the He- 
brews was septennial, that of foreigners perpetual. Insolvent 
debtors, with their families, were reduced to servitude for the 
payment of debts ; captives in war, as among the Greeks and 
Romans, encountered the same hard lot. 

7. A system of tithe taxation for the support of the 
Levites, leaving all other expenses of the nation to be pro- 
vided for by other means. 

8. An agrarian system of the division and permanent reten- 
tion of lands in families ; agrarian laws have been the stum- 
bling block of legislators in all ages. 

9. Prohibition of interest for the use of money : this must 
have been a great hinderance to the development of the 



CHAP. XVII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 169 

national resources. A large amount of money must have 
been hoarded up, that with a reasonable interest system would 
have been used for the public good. 

10. Ceremonial defilements and purifications. These Christ 
directly condemned ; they must have done vast harm. 

11. Polygamy, both directly and in the form of concu- 
binage to an unlimited extent. 

12. Divorces at the pleasure of the husband: the wife 
relation was that of a servant, depending entirely on the will 
of her master for her position ; he could discard her at any 
moment. 

13. The ten commandments, a compend of moral duties. 

14. Criminal law. 

(1.) Thefts and destructions of property were redressed by 
restoring double the amount, etc. 

(2.) Bodily injuries were punished by retaliation — an eye 
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, etc. This is a relic of the 
lowest and most vindictive barbarism, which cannot exist 
with c^ture. and which morality abhors. It is not a princi- 
ple of justice, but of wrong, and tends to the multiplication 
of wrongs indefinitely. 

(3.) A sanguinary and cruel system of capital punishments. 
The laws of savages and tyrants are sanguinary. The short- 
est and simplest way to get rid of troublesome persons is to 
kill them ; they are then out of the way forever. Tyrants 
and savages do a great deal of this ; they often kill obstinate 
children. The Mosaic laws punished the following offences 
with death : — 



1. Murder, of all degrees. 

2. Witchcraft. 

3. Idolatry. 

4. Manstealing. 

5. Sabbath breaking. 

6. Blasphemy. 

15 



7. Allowing dangerous oxen 

abroad. 

8. Smiting or cursing father 

or mother. 

9. Adultery. 

10. Bestiality, etc. 



170 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVII. 

15. These and the other laws are attributed to Moses, and 
through him to God ; many of them are excellent, some are 
frivolous, and several of them are monstrous ; showing clearly 
that all of them did not emanate from God, and probably not 
from Moses. Imperfect laws cannot have God's hand or seaL 
These were handed down for several centuries, and given to 
the world after the introduction of Aramaean letters as the 
laws of Moses. But that they are all his we have no proof, 
and oral tradition is so uncertain a medium that it cannot be 
implicitly depended upon. For the honor of Moses and hu- 
manity, it is to be hoped that some of them are not his. 

16. The Hebrew prophets found this system in operation, 
and endeavored to modify and improve it in agreement with 
reason and morality. Christ set it aside, and boldly proposed 
the eternal principles of right and wrong as the ultimate tests 
of all human actions and institutions. This was the higher 
doctrine of the Greek philosophy, and is man's only resource 
against imposition and delusion. The self-evident and eter- 
nal never lie, and never deceive, and can never be violated 
without wickedness ; every proposition that contravenes them 
is a lie, and every deed that departs from them a sin. 

17. Many of the Hebrew laws are frivolous and puerile, and 
probably originated in the dark ages after Moses, before let- 
ters got abroad. Of this description are the laws respecting 
the purification of women after childbirth, and of houses 
infected with leprosy. More ridiculous enactments never 
found their place among the laws of barbarians. How Jew- 
ish conservatism managed to endure them after the attain- 
ment of Greek common sense, with several other valuable 
lessons, may be learned from Philo, a contemporary of Christ, 
and head of the Jewish Greek literati in his time. Philo is 
the Jewish Plato, and master of his illustrious Greek master ; 
but he was a Hebrew not the less. 

18. According to the Jewish rabbis, the Mosaic law con- 
sists of 248 positive precepts, which is the exact number of 






CHAP. XVII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 171 

bones they find in the human system ; and of 365 negative 
precepts, which they make to be the number of veins ; so 
that the whole is represented by a man's bones and veins. 
Each bone has a positive law, and each vein a negative one. 
They also remark on the agreement between the number of 
negative precepts and the days of the year. Each day rep- 
resents a Mosaic prohibition, as each bone in the human sys- 
tem does a Mosaic requirement. Reason, cribbed and con- 
fined, must do something ; and not being allowed to treat their 
laws in the scientific manner of other objects, it falls to being 
a child, and amuses itself with making them into cob houses. 
The lesson ought not to be lost on Christendom; but too 
many, instead of interpreting it liberally, and profiting by it, 
practise the same on a little larger scale, and substitute for 
the cob house of the younger child, the boys' and girls' play 
house, with a due supply of dolls and child furniture. 

19. Besides the written law of Moses contained in the 
Pentateuch, the Jews have his unwritten law, equally sacred 
and authentic, which is contained in the Talmud, in 12 folio 
volumes. The light of this great work is not designed to go 
abroad very freely, and does not force its way. If it was not 
labelled Light, mortals accustomed to the light of the sciences 
would be in great danger of mistaking it for darkness. It is 
commended to the bats and owls of Christianity, who love to 
flit through dark aisles of antique churches, and modern imi- 
tations of the antique, and make night hideous with their 
pious and doleful screams at any sign of breaking day ; it is 
the perfection of the antique and obsolete, and ought not to 
be neglected by their worshippers. 

20. The common Christian method of treating these laws 
is a close approximation to the Jewish one, and a wide de- 
parture, both from the freedom of true science, and the report- 
ed methods of the founder of Christianity, who set aside with- 
out ceremony such as are unjust and inexpedient. It is no 
compliment to Christianity to make the erroneous correct, or 



172 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVII. 

the wrong right ; Christianity abhors both. She condemns 
and exposes them wherever she finds them, and cares not for 
their pedigree or pretensions. She is no hypocrite, pays no 
respects to hypocrites, and asks no favors of them. When 
iEneas went to hades he carried a sop for Cerberus, and 
propitiated his many barking tongues, till he got them to 
sleep; but Christianity disdains even this. Founded on the 
rock, and upheld by Omnipotence, she tolerates the barking 
of Cerberus as of little significance, and applies herself to 
her task ; he will be still in time. 

Mosaic Tradition 7. 

Moses and the Hebrews in the Wilderness after the Giving 
of the Law. 

1. The year after leaving Egypt is spent in giving the 
law, building the sacred tabernacle, and getting up to the 
borders of Canaan, when the Hebrews explore the land and 
decline to attack it, contrary to the advice of Moses (1490 
B. C), the next year after leaving Egypt. 35 years after this, 
Miriam dies; then Aaron (in 1453 B. C.) and the Israelites, 
failing to get a passage through the country of the Edomites, 
go around it to the east. 

2. There are two enumerations of the nation in the wil- 
derness ; the first in 1490 B. C, giving them 603,350 men 
above 20 years old, able to bear arms, exclusive of the Le- 
vites (Num. 1 : 44-47) ; the second on the plains of Moab, 
38 years later (1452 B. C), when every man of the first enu- 
meration was dead, except Moses, Caleb, and Joshua ; and 
the whole number, including the Levites, was 601,730, with 
a falling off of 61,020. (26 : 1-65.) This is a large reduc- 
tion, showing that the nation did not thrive on manna and 
other wilderness products, and is a strong argument against 
the literal interpretation of the manna narrative. The real 
bread of gods would have agreed better with the nation's 
health. 



CHAP. XVII. BIBLICAL THEOEIES. 173 

3. The people complained of their wilderness fare after the 
giving of the law, and it was evil in the ears of Jeva ; and 
Jeva heard, and his anger was kindled ; and Jeva's fire (light- 
ning) burned them, and consumed the extremity of the camp. 
And the people cried to Moses, and Moses prayed to Jeva, 
and the fire subsided ; and he called the name of the place 
Burning, because Jeva's fire burned them. (Num. 11 : 1-3.) 
This probably commemorates a fire occasioned by lightning, 
or some other calamity that befell them by that means. The 
general title of lightning in the Hebrew Scriptures is fire of 
God. 

4. Moses becomes discouraged with his charge under their 
clamors for animal food, when the following incident occurs : 
Moses said, I cannot bear all this people alone, for it is too 
heavy for me ; and if you deal thus with me, kill me, I pray 
you, if I have found favor in your sight, that I may not see 
my trouble. Then Jeva said to Moses, Assemble for me 70 
men of the elders of Israel, whom you know, to be elders of 
the people, and its cutters (magistrates), and bring them to 
the tent of the congregation, and set them with you ; and I 
will descend and talk with you there, and put aside of the 
spirit which is on you, and put on them, and they shall bear 
with you the burden of the people, and you shall not bear 
[it] alone. Num. 11 : 14-17. 

5. And Moses went out and told the people the words of 
Jeva ; and 70 men were assembled to him of the elders of 
the people, and he set them around the tent ; and Jeva came 
down in a cloud and spoke to him, and put aside of the spirit 
that was on him, and put it on the 70 men, the elders ; and 
when the spirit rested on them, they prophesied and ended 
not. And two men were left in the camp ; the name of the 
first was Eldad, and the name of the second Midad ; and on 
them rested the spirit, and they were among the enrolled, but 
went not to the tent ; and they prophesied in the camp. And 
a young man ran and told Moses, and said x Eldad and Midad 

15* 



174 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XYII. 

are prophesying in the camp. Then answered Joshua, son 
of Nun, servant of Moses, of his young men, My lord Moses, 
prohibit them. And Moses said to him, Are you jealous for 
me ? O that all Jeva's people were prophets, if Jeva would put 
his spirit on them. (11 : 24-29.) The prophesying referred to 
seems to have been public teaching. The above is the origin 
of the Sanhedrim, or Jewish court of 70. 

6. A remarkable incident is recorded of Miriam, Moses' 
sister. And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on 
account of the woman, the Cushite, whom he took ; for he 
took a Cushite woman. And they said, Has Jeva spoken 
only by Moses ? has he not also spoken by us ? And Jeva 
heard ; and the man Moses was exceedingly gentle, more than 
any man who was on the face of the ground. And Jeva said 
suddenly to Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam, Come out, you 
three, to the tent of the congregation ; and they three came 
out. Then Jeva came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood 
at the door of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam ; and 
they two came. And he said, Hear now my words. If you 
have a prophet, I, Jeva, will be known to him in vision ; I 
will speak to him in a dream. Not so is my servant Moses ; 
in all my house he is faithful [is allowed] ; face to face I 
speak to him, and plainly, and not in enigmas ; and he sees 
the form of Jeva, and why are you not afraid to speak against 
my servant Moses ? And the anger of Jeva was kindled 
against them, and he departed, and the cloud removed from 
on the tent ; and behold, Miriam was leprous as snow ; and 
Aaron turned to Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And 
Aaron said to Moses, A prayer, my lord ; lay not upon us, I 
beseech you, the sin by which we have done foolishly, and by 
which we have sinned. Let her not be like a dead [infant] 
whose flesh is half consumed when it comes from its mother's 
womb. And Moses cried to Jeva, saying, Al, heal her now, 
I pray you. 12 : 1-13. 

7. Then Jeva said to Moses, If her father had spit in her 



CHAP. XVII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 175 

face, would she not bear the shame a week ? let her be shut 
out a week from the camp, and afterwards let her be received. 
And Miriam was shut out of the camp a week, and the peo- 
ple journeyed not till Miriam was taken in ; and afterwards 
the people removed from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wil- 
derness of Paran. (14-16.) Miriam was older than Moses, 
having watched his infant chest in the Nile, and must have 
been at this time not less than 90. This probably refers to 
some discontent and insubordination of Miriam, and a sick- 
ness that followed it, which was regarded as a providential 
infliction ; perhaps the progress of the marches was suspended 
on her account. The Cushite wife of Moses was not an Ethi- 
opian, but a Midianite of Arabia, and a Keturian Abraham- 
ite. The fictitious character of the narrative is stamped on 
its face ; and Jeva's conversation falls far short of a genuine 
divine dignity. 

8. The rebellion of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, and their 
punishment (Num. 16 : 1—5), are common events. The earth 
opens and swallows men up continually. Rebellion is al- 
ways hazardous, and the earth has in all ages been in the 
habit of opening her mouth and swallowing up rebels. They 
lose their business and its profits, and expose themselves to 
overwhelming calamities, besides the displeasure of their 
rulers. Miracles are not usually necessary to accomplish 
their destruction ; it occurs naturally, and goes on rapidly, 
without any supernatural judgments. The natural punish- 
ments of rebellions are generally prompt and thorough. 

9. Moses brought water from the rock at Massa (Exod. 
17:5-7), 1491 B. C. ; the same miracle is repeated in the 
wilderness of Sin (Num. 20 : 11), 1453 B. C, when he smites 
the rock twice. This well, like the other, was probably dug 
into a rock. The smiting twice seems to refer to two sepa- 
rate attempts, of which the last was successful. 

10. Moses requests of the king of Edom a passage through 
his country, and is refused. (Num. 20:14-21.) From this 



176 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVII. 

time aggressive wars commence. The Hebrews go round 
Edom on the east ; on coming to the country of the Amo- 
rites, they request a passage through it, and are refused, when 
they fight, vanquish their adversaries, and occupy their land. 
(Num. 21 : 21-32). Then they fight with Og, king of Ba- 
shan, and exterminate both of these nations. When Og 
came out against them, then Jeva said to Moses, Fear him 
not, for I will give him into your hand, and all his people, 
and all his land, and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, 
king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Hesbon ; and they smote 
him and his sons, and all his people, till there was riot left to 
him a remnant; and they possessed his land. (Num. 21: 
33-35.) 

11. The intercourse with the daughters of Moab seems to 
have been chiefly religious and international. This the He- 
brews always detested, and called fornication and whoredom. 
In this instance it is suppressed by the most summary exe- 
cutions of the offending parties. (Num. 25 : 1-18.) The pol- 
icy evinced in this portion of Hebrew history is that of the 
most cruel and sanguinary persecution, and deserves abhor- 
rence and execration. Persecution and slaughter are not the 
methods of grace, nor of Christ ; and as little have they ever 
been the methods of God. The Midianites endeavored to 
propitiate their relations with little success. After a short 
interval comes the war. 

12. Wars of extermination belong to barbarism and inhu- 
manity. The Christian law of love and good will* to all man- 
kind abhors them ; humanity and mercy abhor them, and 
God has forever abhorred them. The Hebrews are now 
about to attack the Moabites, descendants of Lot, their rela- 
tions ; and the Moabites apply for help to the Midianites 
[Keturian Abrahamites]. Balak, king of Moab, calls Ba- 
laam, a celebrated Midianite prophet, to his aid. It appears 
from these traditions that the Midianites retained the worship 
of Jeva. Balaam was a prophet of Jeva, and does not ap- 



CHAP. XVII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 177 

pear from the history to have been the worst of men. He 
had the highest respect of his nation, and of the kindred 
nation of the Moabites. Balaam was sent for by the king of 
the Moabites to curse the Hebrews previous to his fighting, 
in the hope that they would thereby be more easily resisted. 

13. The elders of Moab went, and the elders of Midian ; 
and rewards for divination were in their hands. And they 
went to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak. And 
he said to them, Lodge here to-night, and I will return you 
word as Jeva shall tell me. And the princes of Moab abode 
with Balaam. Then God came to Balaam, and said, What 
men are these with you ? And Balaam said to God, Balak, 
son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me (saying), Be- 
hold, there is a people that has come out of Egypt, and it 
covers the eye of the earth ; and now come curse him for 
me ; perhaps I shall be able to fight with him and expel him. 
Then God said to Balaam, Go not with them ; curse not the 
people, for he is blessed. Then Balaam rose in the morning, 
and said to the princes of Balak, Go to your land, for Jeva 
refuses to permit me to go with you. (Num. 22 : 7-13.) Here 
is a genuine prophet of Jeva, and prophet work. 

14. Balak sends again princes more and more honorable 
than these, and promises great rewards. It appears that 
Balaam was a professional prophet, and divined for money, 
in the manner of the Magi and other professors of superior 
arts. Divination was a commodity, and had a market price. 
On the second application, Balaam answered and said to the 
servants of Balak, If Balak woidd give me his house full of 
silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the mouth of Jeva my 
God, to do little or much ; but now stay, I pray you, also this 
night, that I may know what Jeva will again say to me. And 
God came to Balaam by night, and said, If the men have come 
to call you, arise, go with them ; but only the thing which I 
say to you, that do. Then Balaam arose in the morning, and 
saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab ; and the 



178 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVII. 

anger of God was kindled when he was going, and an angel 
of Jeva stood in the way to oppose him as he was riding on 
his ass, and his two servants with him : then the ass saw an 
angel of Jeva standing in the way, and his sword drawn in 
his hand ; and the ass turned from the way, and went into 
the field ; and Balaam smote the ass to turn her to the way. 
Then the angel of Jeva stood in a narrow way of the vine- 
yards, and a fence was on one side and a fence on the other. 
And the ass saw the angel of Jeva, and thrust herself against 
the wall, and crushed the foot of Balaam against the wall; 
and he smote her again. Then the angel of Jeva passed by 
again, and stood in a narrow place, where there was no way 
to turn to the right or left. Then the ass saw the angel of 
Jeva, and lay down under Balaam. Then the anger of Balaam 
was kindled, and he smote the ass with a cane. Then Jeva 
opened the mouth of the ass, and she said to Balaam, What 
have I done to you, that you have smitten me these three 
times ? And Balaam said to the ass, Because you have 
mocked me ; O that there was a sword in my hand, for now 
I would kill you. Then Jeva opened the eyes of Balaam, 
and he saw the angel of Jeva standing in the way, and his 
sword drawn in his hand ; and he bowed and prostrated him- 
self on his face. Then the angel of Jeva said to him, Why 
have you smitten your ass these three times •? Behold, I came 
out to oppose [you] because your way is precipitate before 
me. The ass saw me, and turned from me these three times ; 
unless she had turned from me, surely now I should have 
killed you, and preserved her alive. Then Balaam said to the 
angel of Jeva, I sinned because I knew not that you stood 
before me in the way. And if it is evil in your sight [for me 
to proceed], I will turn me back ; and the angel of Jeva said 
to Balaam, Go with the men, but only the word which I 
speak to you, speak. And Balaam went with the princes of 
Moab. (22: 18-35.) 

15. In all the following narrations, Balaam conducts him- 



CHAP. XYII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 179 

self with propriety, has frequent interviews with Gocl, deliv- 
ers his word with fidelity, and utters some of the most im- 
portant predictions of the Hebrew Scriptures. In Numbers 
24 : 1, his going to meet God over sacrifices is called going 
to meet enchantments, in allusion to the methods of the Magi. 
Never did a prophet perform his duty better, and no fault is 
found with him in respect to his prophetic office. 

16. And they warred against Midian, as Jeva commanded 
Moses, and killed every male ; and they killed the kings of 
Midian, besides their wounded, Avi, and Rekem, and Zur, and 
Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian ; and they killed Balaam, 
son of Beor, with the sword. And the sons of Israel took 
all the women of Midian captive, and their little ones, and 
all their cattle, and all their flocks, and plundered all their 
property, and burned with fire all their cities and fortresses 
in which they dwelt, and took all the spoil and all the prey, 
both man and beast ; and they brought to Moses and Aliezar 
the priest, and to the assembly of the sons of Israel, the cap- 
tives, and the prey, and the spoil, to the camp on the plains 
of Moab, which are by the Jordan [near] Jericho. (31 : 7-12.) 

17. Then went out Moses, and Aliezar the priest, and all 
the princes of the assembly, to meet them without the camp. 
And Moses was indignant at the commanders of the army, 
the princes of thousands, and princes of hundreds, that came 
from going to war ; and Moses said to them, Have you saved 
every female alive ? Behold, these were to the sons of Israel, 
by the word of Balaam, to commit a trespass against Jeva 
on account of Peor, and a plague was on the assembly of 
Jeva. And now kill every male among the little ones, and 
kill every woman that knows man by lying with a male. But 
all the little ones among the women that have not known ly- 
ing with a male, preserve alive for yourselves. (13-18.) Was 
ever more awful wickedness perpetrated in the name of God ? 
Is this the Hebrew Moses, the gentlest of men, the great 
lawgiver and deliverer ? It is the Hebrew account of Moses, 



180 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVII. 

but it is hard to believe that this is Moses the deliverer. 
Such awful wickedness needs to be better authenticated before 
it can be accepted against so great and good a man. How- 
ever cruel the ignorant and debased Hebrews may have been, 
Moses, the gentlest of men, possessed kindness and charity ; 
and it is not easy to believe that one who did so much to de- 
liver his own nation from injustice and oppression would 
trample with such awful cruelty on the rights of others. If 
he did, he deserves the execration of mankind. But it is 
scarcely possible ; as it is well said, Let God be true, and 
every man a liar, so we may say, Let Moses be just and good, 
and his traditionists in fault. 

18. The account of the brazen serpent has every mark of 
a fiction. God practises no such spells. 

19. Moses commences the course of conquests, acquires a 
large territory east of the Jordan, ascends a mountain, views 
the land west as far as the eye can see, and finds an un- 
marked grave. Such is the end and reward of the great de- 
liverers of nations ! The allegorist shrouds it in creditable 
mystery. 

Mosaic Tradition 8. 

Aramaean Writing not yet apparent. 

1 . Writing first appears in the Mosaic traditions ; it is 
never mentioned before. The covenants of God with Noah 
and Abraham were not written documents, nor does any writ- 
ten document appear in their times. Noah was not a man of 
letters, neither was Abraham. Abraham receives no deed 
of purchase from the Hittites when he buys the field of 
Machpelah; the transfer is made orally, and witnessed by 
all that went in at the gate of the Hittite city, of which its 
previous owner was a resident. (Gen. 23 : 3-20.) Joseph 
sent no letters to his father from Egypt ; the sight of the 
wagons sent for him, assured the good old man that his be- 
loved Joseph was yet alive, and confirmed the verbal messages 
of his other sons. 



CHAP. XVII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 181 

2. Egypt, in the time of Moses, was the cradle of arts and 
sciences. Moses is said by Stephen (Acts 7 : 23) to have 
been educated in all wisdom of the Egyptians, and to have 
been mighty in words and deeds. The Mosaic traditions say 
nothing of his education ; but his deliverance of his people 
from Egyptian servitude and reorganization of their national 
polity in Arabia, where he governed them as nomadic tribes, 
show that he was an educated man. The Egyptians possessed 
two species of writing in the time of Moses — the hiero- 
glyphic and the hieratic, both of which served admirably as 
tombs of knowledge, but not as its temples. If Moses used 
letters at all, he must have used the Egyptian letters. They 
were invented for useful purposes ; but as often happens, it 
is difficult at this day to decide whether they were of the 
least use. It is possible that they gave some help for the 
preservation of knowledge ; and if so, Moses might use them. 
The Mosaic references to the use of letters are the following : — 

3. And you shall put the cover on the chest on the top, and 
to the chest shall you give the law which I give to you ; and 
I will meet you there, and speak with you, from on the cover 
between the two cherubs which are on the chest of the law, 
all that I command you for the sons of Israel. This is B. C. 
1491. 

4. And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking 
with him on Mount Sinai, two tables [slabs] of stone, written 
with the finger of God. (Ex. 31 : 18.) These were brought 
down from the mountain by Moses ; and when he approached 
the camp, and saw the calf and the dancers, then the anger 
of Moses was kindled, and. he cast from his hand the tables, 
and broke them under the mountain. (32 : 19.) And Jeva 
told Moses, Cut for yourself two tables, stones, like the first, 
and I will write on the tables the words which were on the 
first tables, which you broke. And he cut two tables, stones, 
like the first ; and Moses arose early in the morning, and 
went up to Mount Sinai, as Jeva had commanded him, and 

16 



.82 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVII. 

took in his hand the two tables, stones. (34 : 1, 4.) And 
Jeva said to Moses, Write for you these words, for according 
to the mouth of these words have I cut a covenant for you 
and for the sons of Israel. And he was there with Jeva 40 
days and 40 nights, and ate no bread and drank no water ; 
and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the 
ten words. (34 : 27, 28.) 

5. The final account attributes the writing of the ten 
commandments the second time to Moses. This, however, 
does not agree with the promise of Jeva (34 : 1), in which 
he says, I will write on them. Here is writing first by the 
finger of God, and secondly by Moses ; and Moses is directed 
to write all the laws which God had given him. 

6. Stone is one of the earliest materials for writing, and 
the oldest monuments of all kinds of writing are found to be 
stones and bricks. Egyptian hieroglyphics are handed down 
to us on stones from periods long anterior to Moses, but 
Aramaean letters only from periods long after Moses. The 
finger of God is a very broad term. The chisel of the en- 
graver may very well be denoted by this title. It is a finger 
of God which writes not only the ten commandments, but 
many other notes of warning and instruction. Among tradi- 
tions abounding with allegories, writing with the finger of 
God cannot be taken literally without evidence, and writing 
at all may be allegorical. The literal writing by the finger 
of God must be rejected ; and that being rejected, the other 
part of the description becomes uncertain. The same is true 
of the accompanying direction to Moses to write other laws. 
Standing in connection with an incident respecting the writing 
of the ten commandments on tablets of stone that is fictitious, 
it cannot be depended upon as establishing the use of letters 
among the Hebrews at this time. But if it does, its letters 
must be Egyptian, and not Aramaean. 

7. In 1451 B. C, 40 years later, we have the following: 
And Moses wrote this law, and gave her to the priests, sons of 



CHAP. XVII. BIBLICAL THE0KIES. 183 

Levi, who bear the chest of the covenant of Jeva, and to all 
the sons of Israel. (Deut. 31 : 9.) Now, therefore, write 
for you this song, and teach her to the sons of Israel, and set 
her in their mouth, that this song may be to me for a witness 
against the sons of Israel. (19.) And Moses wrote this song 
on the same day, and taught her to the sons of Israel. (22.) 
&nd when Moses had finished writing the words of this law 
fin the book, till it was finished, then Moses commanded 
the Levites who bore the chest of the covenant of Jeva, say- 
ing, Take the book of this law, and put it by the side of the 
chest of the covenant of Jeva, your God, and let it be there 
for a witness against you. (26.) 

The song referred to in the above is the prophetic ode re- 
corded in chapter 32. It seems doubtful, from the notices on 
the subject, why the chest was called chest of the law. The 
common opinion is, that it was the repository in which the 
law was kept. But the direction in Deut. 31 : 26 is to put 
the book of the law by the side of the chest, and not in it. 
The next appearance of the book of the law is under Josiah 
(641 B. C), after a lapse of 810 years, when it turns up as a 
novelty. And Hilkiah, the chief priest, said to Shaphan the 
scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of 
Jeva ; and Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. 
(2 Kings 22 : 8.) We have no evidence that this is the same 
book which Moses commanded the Levites to put by the side 
of the chest of the law. 

No book of the law is reported from the time of Moses till 
that of Josiah — an interval, according to the common reckon- 
ing, of 810 years, and in reality much longer. 

The chest of the law and the tent of the law are mentioned 
in the Mosaic traditions, and the chest cover is made the 
sacred seat of Jeva, the divine lawgiver. This figures largely 
in Jewish theology, and is often referred to. 

8. These allusions to writing admit of three possible 
explanations: (1.) They may be mistakes; (2.) They may 



184 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XVII. 

refer to the use of Aramaean letters ; (3.) They may refer to 
the use of Egyptian hieroglyphic or hieratic letters. That 
they refer to Aramsean letters does not appear, and that 
Aramaean letters were not yet abroad among the Hebrews 
is indicated by the following circumstantial evidence : — 

9. (1.) No copies either of the whole law or of any parts 
of it, or any pre-Mosaic history, ever appear. Where so 
much appears, such documents ought to appear if they exist- 
ed ; and after they did exist, they appear continually. 

(2.) No reading of the law, or of any part of it, and no 
explanation or interpretation of a written document, are once 
referred to. After the law was written, it was read continu- 
ally, and the reading of it often referred to. If it had been 
written in these times, it would have been much read, and 
the reading of it sometimes noticed in contemporary history. 

(3.) Moses had servants, but he had no secretary or scribe ; 
the nation had no secretary ; the office of secretary or scribe 
is not thought of in the Mosaic institutions. Certainly Ara- 
maean letters were not abroad. 

(4.) The Mosaic history is to a great extent allegorical, 
and all its great events are great prodigies. After the pro- 
digious plagues of Egypt, the nation goes through the Red 
Sea on foot in a path opened for it by Jeva ; it is led by a 
pillar of cloud by day and of name by night ; it gets water 
from the rocks, and manna from heaven, the food of gods ; 
the earth opens and swallows up rebels ; God appears in 
flames and smoke, attended with angels and heralded by 
trumpets' martial sound, and speaks with audible voices ; and 
an angel appears with a drawn sword, etc. These symbols 
are all possible with Aramaean letters ; but with the use of 
these letters they fell into disuse, and can never be revived ; 
the two cannot coexist ; the Aramaean letter method of desig- 
nating objects is more exact and less extravagant. 

(5.) The Hebrews were required to commemorate the Mosaic 
laws by fringes on their garments. (Num. 15 : 37-40.) This is 



CHAP. XVIII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 185 

another evidence that Aramaean letters were not then in 
use ; with them, such a commemoration could not have been 
necessary. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Traditions of Joshua and the Judges. 

Joshua, the Hebrew Jesus, Saviour, succeeds Moses, at his 
death (1451 B. C), as military leader of the Hebrews, and 
secures for them a settlement in Canaan. This is done under 
the patronage and by the authority of Jeva. Was it rightly 
done ? We think not. The conquest of Canaan was in vio- 
lation of the sixth and eighth commandments — You shall not 
kill, and, You shall not steal. The Hebrews went through 
the land killing and stealing ; it was an unprovoked act of 
wickedness, such as human nature abhors and the human 
race every where condemns. It was a violation of the Chris- 
tian law to do to our neighbors as we wish them to do to us, 
and to love them as ourselves. The Hebrews neither dealt 
kindly with their Canaanite neighbors nor loved them ; and 
their experience in the possession of their ill-gotten land was 
according to the proverb that wealth gotten by wickedness 
abides not a day of anger. 

The Hebrews have been allowed the benefit of the plea, 
that God gave them an express license to practise this injus- 
tice. A strict and just interpretation of their traditions de- 
prives them of this plea. Their traditions fail to show that 
God ever gave them any such license, and we are compelled 
to believe that their supposed license is a mistake. Joshua's 
claim was that of the stronger arm and better disciplined 
force. History does not record a more atrocious violation of 
the rights of nations than these conquests ; and it was impos- 
sible that the curse of a just God should not follow them. 
The Canaanites had done the Hebrews no wrong; when 
Abraham was among them, and wanted a field, they sold it. to 
16* 



186 BIBLICAJi THEORIES. CHAP. XVIII. 

him ; he never thought of taking it by force against the will 
of the owner, or without compensation ; but under Joshua no 
consent of lawful owners is asked, no price offered, nor con- 
veniences and necessities of women and children consulted, 
but the robber comes with his club, and behind are his bow- 
men with their arrows on the string, and his slingers with 
their stones ; and he blows his ram's horn, and bids you flee, 
or die. The Greeks characterized Joshua as a robber chief 
that invaded Canaan by the robber's law, and gave it to his 
followers. The Scripture narrative furnishes no facts that 
repel this charge. 

Joshua, after 25 years, is followed by a succession of 
judges, subjections to foreign powers, and anarchies termi- 
nating with the establishment of a monarchy under Saul. (1095 
B. C.) The period of Joshua and the judges, according to 
the common reckoning, is 356 years, in reality probably much 
longer ; it is a period of great darkness and of many calami- 
ties and crimes. Samuel belongs to the close of this period, 
and evinces a degree' of culture superior to his predecessors. 

God continues to converse with Joshua as he had done 
with Moses, and directs his measures and movements. In 
one case Joshua has a visit from an angel prince of the host 
of Jeva. (Josh. 5 : 13-15.) The narrative of the walls of 
Jericho falling at the sound of rams' horns probably com- 
memorates some surprise or panic by which the Hebrews got 
possession of the city. The case of Achan is an allegory, to 
intimidate individuals from taking plunder that does not 
belong to them, and to teach other moral lessons. The 
stopping of the sun and moon represents the elements as 
appearing to espouse the Hebrew cause, and lend them all 
possible aid. This is a good allegory, but bad history ; the 
sun is in the habit of waiting for the industrious, and running 
away from the indolent. Great industry and diligence make 
long days. 

The distribution of the lands under Joshua is described in 






CHAP. XVIII. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 187 

terms indicating that the era of deeds and written titles to 
real estate had not yet come. There is no allusion to a deed 
or written title in the whole narrative. Near the time of his 
death, Joshua made an oral covenant with the people to serve 
Jeva ; after which it is said, And Joshua wrote these words 
in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone and 
set her there under the oak which is in the sanctuary of Jeva. 
And Joshua said to all the people, This stone shall be a wit- 
ness against us, for she has heard all the sayings of Jeva 
which he has spoken to us ; and she shall be for a witness 
against you, lest you lie against your God. (Josh. 24 : 26, 27.) 
The book of the law of God is not produced ; nothing is read 
from it, nor is its language indicated. If any such book ex- 
isted, it must have been in the hieroglyphic or hieratic let- 
ters of Egypt. It is probable that the account is allegorical, 
denoting only that Joshua did all that was proper on the 
occasion. Aramaean letters would have wanted no great 
stone for a sign of the transaction. A sealed Aramaean in- 
strument is more significant than all the stones that were 
ever piled up. The altar of testimony (Josh. 22 : 11-34) 
is a further evidence that Aramaean letters did not exist at 
this time. 

The appearance of Jeva to Gideon is recorded thus : And 
an angel of Jeva came and sat under the oak which is in 
Ophra, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite, and Gideon 
his son was threshing wheat by the wine-press, to get [it] 
away from before Midian ; and there appeared to him an 
angel of Jeva, and said to him, Jeva is with you, mighty man 
of valor ; and Gideon said to him, O my lord, if Jeva is 
with us, why has all this found us, and where are all his 
wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, Did not Jeva 
bring us up from Egypt ? and now Jeva has rejected us, and 
given us into the hand of Midian. Then Jeva turned to him, 
and said, Go with this strength of yours, and save Israel from 
the hand of Midian ; have not I sent you ? And he said to 



188 BIBLICAL THE0EJES. CHAP. XVIII. 

him, O my Lord, by what shall I save Israel ? behold, my 
thousand has ceased in Manasseh, and I am the smallest in 
my father's house. Then Jeva said to him, [You shall do it,] 
for I will be with you, and you shall smite Midian as one 
man. (Judg. 6 : 11-16.) And he said to him, If now I 
have found favor in your sight, then perform me a sign, that 
you have spoken with me. Leave not this place till I come 
to you, and I will bring my bread offering and rest it before 
you. And he said, I will sit till you return. And Gideon 
went and made ready [did] a kid of the goats, and unleavened 
cakes of fine meal. The meat he put in the basket, but the 
broth he put in a poL and he brought it to him under the 
terebinth, and presented it ; and the angel of the gods said to 
him, Take the meat and the cakes, and rest them on that 
rock, and pour out the broth ; and he did so. Then the 
angel of Jeva put forth the end of the cane which was in his 
hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes, and 
fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the 
unleavened cakes, and the angel of Jeva went from his sight. 
Then Gideon saw that he was an angel of Jeva, and Gideon 
said, Alas, Lord Jeva, because I have seen an angel of Jeva 
face to face ; and Jeva said to him, Peace be to you ; fear 
not, you shall not die. 17-23. 

This visitor is called Jeva, angel of Jeva, and angel of the 
gods, or angel god. The allegoric character of the narrative 
is obvious. 

Jephtha's vow and sacrifice of his daughter indicate the 
darkness of the period. God wants no such vows, and 
accepts no such sacrifices. The case of Iphigenia among the 
Greeks is analogous to this. Both are signs of the thick 
darkness that once rested on the minds of men. 

Samson is a Greek Hercules in strength, but in simplicity 
and folly, a child ; Samuel is the dawn of a better day. Jeva 
appears to him first in his childhood, and informs him of his 
designs against Eli and his wicked sons; and again in Shiloh ; 



CHAP. XYIII. 



BIBLICAL THEORIES. 



189 



but Jeva was made known to Samuel in Sliiloh by the word 
of Jeva. 

Eli died at 98 years of age, having judged Israel 40 years. 
When Samuel becomes old, the people demand a monarchy, 
and Saul is made king 1095 B. C. With Samuel commence 
the schools of the prophets, the use of Aramaean letters, lit- 
erary culture, and literal history ; and from this time prodi- 
gies decline, and ordinary events and characters gradually 
take their place. 

Chronology of Judges, Anarchies, and Subjugations to For- 
eign Nations. 



1. Moses, 40 

2. Joshua, 25 

3. Anarchy, indefinite, x 

4. Mesopotamians, x 

5. Othniel, 40 

6. Moabites, 18 

7. Eliud, 40 

8. Shamgar, '40 

9. Canaanites, .... 20 

10. Deborah and Barak, 40 

11. Midianites, .... 7 

12. Gideon, 40 

13. Abimelech, .... 3 

14. Tola, 23 



15. Jair, 22 

16. Ammonites, .... 18 

17. Jephtha, 6 

18. Ibzan, 7 

19. Elon, 10 

20. Abdon, 8 

21. Philistines, .... 40 

22. Samson, x 

23. Eli, 40 

24. Samuel, x 



487 
End of the rule of the 
Judges, 1095 



Samuel, in the latter part of his life, was contemporary 
with David, and is the reputed founder of the schools of the 
prophets. His hatred of foreigners was intense. His mur- 
der of Agag is an act in character for a savage, and unbe- 
coming a man of God ; his general maxims of war were cruel 
and merciless. The low state of civilization among the He- 
brews in his day, is indicated by the fact that they depended 
on the Philistines to sharpen their ploughs, axes, and other 



190 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XIX. 

implements of agriculture, and made not their own swords ; 
but with the introduction of Aramaean letters came higher 
culture, and other arts of civilization. No considerable im- 
provement is indicated in the character of the Hebrew nation 
from the time of Moses to that of Samuel. The interval is 
a dreary waste. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

History of Biblical Interpretation, and its Principles. 

1 . How the Hebrews understood their earliest traditions 
when they were reduced to the form in which they now appear, 
can only be learned from the later Hebrew books. There are 
two indications that the allegoric character of these traditions 
was not unknown. One is found in the 78th psalm, which 
relates the principal wonders of the exodus as enigmas, ob- 
scure allegories ; and the other is found in the later allegories. 
Many of the later Hebrew books are allegorical, and masters 
of the allegoric method among the later Hebrews may be 
presumed to have understood the allegoric character of their 
earlier writings. 

2. There is abundant evidence, however, that misunder- 
standings arose early, and that earlier allegories, taken as nar- 
ratives of facts, were a great stumbling-block to the nation in 
the later stages of its literature, and the absurd faiths and 
expectations growing out of these misunderstandings were 
one of the causes of its ruin. Similar misunderstandings 
have done great harm to Christendom, and proved the most 
prolific source of the corruptions of Christianity. Fables can- 
not replace facts, nor fictions realities, and be followed im- 
plicitly, without conditioning heavy penalties. The law of 
truth must and will be honored, either in its observance or 
in the punishment of its despisers. 

3. The authors of the later prophets carry out the allegoric 
method of the earlier Hebrew books, by making their sup- 



CHAP. XIX. BIBLICAL THEORIES. 191 

posed authors predict sup ernatur ally many events after they 
had transpired; that is, by antedating their works, giving 
them to illustrious men of a past age, and using facts that 
were to be, for the enforcement of moral and religious duties. 
The book of Isaiah is a composition of this kind, as is also 
the book of Daniel. These writings were universally useful 
as long as they were understood ; but the moment a knowl- 
edge of their allegoric character was lost, and their allegories 
began to be taken for facts, they began to encourage false 
hopes and expectations, and to misrepresent the designs and 
providences of God. 

4. The Septuagint, the earliest Greek translation of the 
Hebrew Scriptures, appears to have been completed as early 
as 130 B. C, and is an invaluable repository of information 
in respect to the opinions of the Jews after they had aban- 
doned the Hebrew language. This work not only gives 
us the opinions of its authors, but, as it was generally ac- 
cepted and indorsed by the learned Jews, may be taken as an 
index of the opinions of all the best informed of those times, 
extending from 130 B. C. till after our Lord. This work 
does not treat the Hebrew as an infallible standard, but often 
abandons it, and substitutes its own different ideas in its 
place. Some striking examples of this appear in the fore- 
going pages, and in the author's translation of the Hebrew 
poets. It is therefore undeniable, that however much the 
Jews of this period may have failed in discriminating between 
fact and fiction in their sacred books, they had not yet fallen 
into the lamentable error of demanding for them implicit and 
unquestioning credit ; they questioned and corrected many 
of their statements. Whether these corrections were always 
correct^ is not material. They may have been never correct ; 
but they show that liberty and right of correction were deemed 
to belong to the interpreter, and consequently that the docu- 
ments were not judged infallible. 

5. Philo, a learned Jew of Alexandria, of A. D. 45, and 



192 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XIX. 

an eminent Greek scholar and philosopher, following the 
methods of Plato, treats the early Hebrew traditions as alle- 
gories, but adopts a loose and unsatisfactory method of resolv- 
ing them that cannot be accepted. The New Testament 
method is of the same loose kind, as in Matt. 1 : 23, where 
the prophet's wife in Isaiah is made to represent the virgin 
Mary ; and in Matt. 2:15, where calling Israel out of Egypt, 
as described in Hosea, is made to represent calling Christ out 
of Egypt in his early childhood. Such modes of interpreta- 
tion are not admissible ; they violate the most sacred laws of 
language, and make it an instrument of confusion, and not 
of information and instruction. The same loose method is 
pursued throughout the Gospel of Matthew, and to some ex- 
tent in the other Gospels ; and it also appears in the Epistle 
of Paul to the Galatians, and the anonymous Epistle to the 
Hebrews, where it is applied to the entire Jewish system of 
religious' services, and to Melchizedec. 

6. The Jewish Targums are translations of the books of the 
Old Testament from the Hebrew into the Chaldee. The 
oldest Targums are supposed to have been made near the times 
of Christ, some probably before ; others are several hundred 
years later. The Targums give us the views of the Chaldee 
Jews respecting their sacred books, as the Septuagint, Philo, 
and New Testament do of the Hellenic or Greek Jews. The 
Targums take still greater liberties with the Hebrew text 
than the Septuagint, and show the same want of confidence 
in it as an ultimate, unquestionable standard in its relations 
of facts or doctrines. 

7. The early Christians adopted the loose allegoric meth- 
ods of the Jews, as appears abundantly from the New Testa- 
ment, and from the writings of the earliest fathers. 

8. Origen (220-254) was the first Christian writer who 
undertook to bring order into this department of Christian 
theology. He was dissatisfied with the common methods, 
and undertook to reduce interpretation to a science. But he 



CHAP. XEt. BIBLICAL THEOBEBS. 193 

did no* succeed in reducing it properly ; he pushed the alle- 
goric methods to great excess, and the result was a long con- 
flict over the subject in succeeding generations, in which the 
world vibrated to the opposite extreme, and rejected the 
allegoric method altogether. 

9. The study of interpretation has been resumed during 
the last 300 years, and prosecuted with great zeal, and with 
some success ; but a just apprehension of its principles is far 
from being general. Like other branches of theology, inter- 
pretation requires considerable reconstruction, in order to 
meet the demands which are laid upon it. Interpretation is 
a branch of universal logic, and' many of its laws are the 
common laws of all right reasoning. Among these, a funda- 
mental cne is here, as elsewhere, to beg no questions, and 
least of all to beg first principles and fundamental questions. 
A vast amount of false interpretation arises from begging 
questions — admitting propositions without proof. This can 
never be done with safety. The categories of the proved and 
unproved ought to be kept distinct, and the unproved never 
to be admitted to a place with the proved. 

10. Preliminary to the interpretation of documents are the 
examination of them, and the determination of their age, 
country, authorship, character as far as it may appear, lan- 
guage, style, and objects. Lastly come the analysis of doc- 
uments, and the consideration of them part by part, in all 
their possible divisions and subdivisions, and in their mutual 
relations and combinations, down to the least word and letter ; 
nothing is to be overlooked, and nothing to be considered 
insignificant. The light of documents is the combined influ- 
ence of all their elements. 

11. Plain language must be interpreted as plain, and alle- 
goric as allegoric. We may call a man a lion, but we must 
not forget that he is a man still ; we may represent vice and 
wickedness by a deluge, but we must not forget that vice is 
still vice, and wickedness wickedness. 

17 



194 BIBLICAL THEORIES. CHAP. XIX. 

12. Allegories are of different kinds, and each allegory 
ought to be interpreted according to its nature, and accord- 
ing to the object which it is made to represent. The princi- 
pal kinds of allegories are the following : — • 

(1.) Representing men by animals ; of this description are 
the fables of JErop. 

(2.) Representing nation? and dynasties, and successions 
of men, 1 [ adividuals, as A .. h, ?tc. 

(3.) . senting ord v uitn by extraordinary, as the 

plagues of Egypt, and miracies of cue exodus, etc. 

(4.) Representing the past as future, as the prophecies put 
on the lips of Isaac and Jacob, previous to their deaths, de- 
claring the fortunes of their descendants ; and the song of 
Moses (Deut. 33 :), etc. 

Rules for the Interpretation of Allegories. 

13. (1.) Every allegory is a unit, and ought to be inter- 
preted as a whole. 

(2.) Every allegory ought to be interpreted according to its 
object as indicated either in the body of the allegory, by the 
context, or by any valid information whatever. 

(3.) The symbols of an allegory ought to be allowed to 
have their most natural and simple analogical meanings. 

(4.) The impossible* is never to be admitted. 

(5.) The highly improbable is never to be admitted with- 
out valid proof. 

14. Besides allegories, we meet in literary works much 
that is -fictitious, for which allowance is always to be made. 
Instead of reporting a man's sentiments, or the substance of 
his sayings, a writer sometimes introduces him as speaking, 
replying to questions, etc., when the whole is ideal, and yet 
is meant to represent the person in question as speaking or 
doing as he may be supposed to have spoken or done. Fic- 
titious elements enter into nearly all historical documents, 
and while they constitute a great portion of many poems, 



CHAP. XIX. BIBLICAL THEOEEES. 195 

enter also largely into many histories. To take no account 
of this element in biblical interpretation is an inexcusable 
negligence. 

15. Besides discriminating allegories and fictions from nar- 
ratives of facts, mistakes, errors, and misrepresentations, must 
always be detected, and allowances made for them as far as 
possible. They accompany all human productions, the sacred 
books equally with others ; and to ignore them is an act both 
of puerile weakness and wickedness. 



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